Testing 1, 2, 3
by August Mayhem
Summary: Hermione wants revenge on a certain cheating red-head. Who better to turn to than the Dark Prince of Slytherin?
1. Chapter 1

Redone: Feb. 23, 2011

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the settings. Anything that is not is canon is mine. This disclaimer is applicable for the entire story, and I won't be adding it to each chapter.

**.x.**

Glaring at his breakfast, he didn't notice a small brown owl flying overhead until it swopped down and dropped the folded up parchment on his scrambled eggs and sausage. He glared even harder at the bird as it flew off; apparently it was smart enough not to stay around. A quick shift of his eyes told him no one was looking at him and he opened the letter.

_ Meet me in the Astronomy Tower at midnight tonight. We need to talk._

It wasn't signed. A bit of his natural curiosity was piqued at who would send him such a letter. It could have been any number of girls really; he had grown up since First Year and was no longer a prat. Now he was a gloriously sexy prat, and proud of it. He figured he would go, since he wanted to know what this was about, but would err on the side of caution. He wasn't stupid, no matter what anyone said.

**.x.**

He waited in his dorm until midnight. He had been fidgeting all night waiting for his dorm-mates to fall asleep. The note had been on the edge of his mind ever since he got that morning. Being half-distracted, thinking up possibilities of what it could be, what the talk needed was, who sent it flitting through his head wasn't the best combination for attention is McGonagall's and Snape's classes…

But finally! He he'd had enough of waiting, he could leave five minutes to, take his (relatively) slow time getting there and the sender of the curious note would still be there before him.

He made it there in five minutes flat. _Damn._ Stupid curiosity. He muttered under his breath about a Malfoy having more control, before giving up. He'd long since gotten used to what his curiosity did to him when it was piqued, which was partly why he never told anyone and tried his darnedest to not let anyone know about this slightly demented side of him.

A shadowed figure moved out of the corner and stepped into the light coming through the window. He was a bit startled that she of all people would be sending him a letter about them needing to talk.

"Malfoy, I know you're here. You've been distracted all day, so I'm assuming your curiosity got the better of you." 'Again' was muttered but the wind carried it to his ears. He scowled. Apparently someone had noticed his curiosity. He thought for a moment. She wasn't likely to tell anyone. No, she'd probably keep it to herself, if only to use it against him.

"And what could we possibly have to talk about Granger?" He sneered on the last word.

She gave him a half-assed glare. "What we have to talk about is a mutually beneficial plan for the both of us."

He slowly walked towards her. "What could you propose that would be beneficial to both of us? More specifically, me? I'm quite sure there are several things that could be beneficial for you. What do I get out of this plan?"

Her glare hardened. "Revenge."

Curiosity came to the fore, again. The thrice-damned thing. He leveled a look at her, one eyebrow cocked.

"Simply put. I want revenge on a certain Weasley." Ah, yes. The Weasel. According to the Rumor Mill of Hogwarts™, a certain red-headed member of the Golden Trio had been caught cheating on the only female of said group with none other than Lavender Brown.

Apparently, when angered enough, even the diminutive kitty had claws. He knew what she wanted; or had a vague idea in any case.

"I could care less who he cheated on me with, but the fact that he _cheated_ on me… I'm not about to let that go!" Her brown eyes had darkened and narrowed in anger, her hands subconsciously twitching as if dreaming of a red-headed neck being strangled.

Slightly surprised at her viciousness, Draco Malfoy took the time to actually look at the muggle-born witch before him.

She on the other hand was still talking, so involved in her revenge-fueled rage that she didn't notice her old enemy watching her, not paying the slightest attention to what was coming out of her mouth.

"I also happen to know that Pansy rather humiliated you by sleeping, and being caught, with some pansy-assed, pardon the pun, Fifth Year Hufflepuff. Bad enough that she cheated on you, the Slytherin Prince, but to do so with someone, two years younger? And a Hufflepuff at that? How embarrassing."

That little speech caught his attention. And his anger. How dare she mock him? And yet, she wasn't really. He knew enough to realize that she was purposely goading him so he wouldn't think clearly and accept her proposal with little thought. Unfortunately the little mudblood was right. Bad enough she had done so, but if even the Mudblood knew, certainly the entire school would. Damn that pretentious little bitch!

Hermione knew from the pinched aggression on his face that he wanted revenge, and hopefully she'd be able to pitch her idea well enough that he'd join her on it. After all, they were both the only person that would make for maximum effect.

She glanced at him again, he seemed lost in thoughts of Pansy and her ultimate destruction.

"What I am essentially proposing, is that for the next indeterminable amount of time, we put aside our differences and become allies. I want revenge on Weasley, and you are the best person to help me carry that revenge out. Malfoy I want you to become my boyfriend."

He started paying attention somewhere around becoming allies and understood her explanation. The part about him becoming her boyfriend however, shocked him so much his usual sneer was replaced with a slightly slacked jaw and eyes widening just the tiniest bit.

Hermione smirked. "As pretend only, of course. The way I figure, you are the best person to use for a maximum effect; the general rivalry between our two Houses and of course, Ron's personal hatred of and for you. In the reverse, I am the best person for you to use as revenge against Pansy.

We can work out an offensive strategy set over a time-line and continue it until the losses exceed the gain. We will have to come up with a back story so this won't be seen as an obvious act of revenge. Also, we may need to get some help creating a trail of easy-to-follow hints that lead into 'our' past as a 'couple'. I'm hoping your close friends in Slytherin can help us with that. Only people you absolutely trust, and even then I may consider getting a Vow of Silence."

Shock, however subtle, once again flashed through quicksilver eyes.

"It's not that I don't trust them. From my perspective, if you can trust them in this matter, so can I, but I will not take any chances that might allow for any kind of leak that will ruin my revenge. I've already hired the eldest Creevey for a little detective work. So far, it has paid off. I've had him take a Vow of Silence as well. I am not going to let anything ruin the complete and utter humiliation of one Ronald Weasley. By my hand!"

If he had been shocked to hear her original proposition, he had been even more amazed at the depth of her planning. And now her viciousness was just plain scary… In a completely girly way of course. She was a mudblood, and a girl at that. No way a Malfoy would ever be scared of one such as her.

Apparently she had continued talking while he stared on in morbid amazement.

"Of course, those are just my plans, I don't really know what you have planned for Pansy, but I'm up for anything if you help me and I'm quite sure we could incorporate it easily. Of course this is all tentative, resultant on your decision. If you decide against it, that's fine, we never had this talk. I'll find someone else to work my plans. Blaise was my second option admittedly. You can't tell him. Or go ahead, it doesn't really matter ether way…"

Her words trailed off, one hand propped against her chin in thought, the other supporting it across her stomach.

He thought about what she had propositioned. He could say no, even though this was a (slightly, grudgingly given) better plan than he'd come up with so far. But he wouldn't tell Granger that. He could say no now, walk away and then make sure Blaise or any other male that Hermione talked to would say no as well. He could totally ruin her plans, right here and now.

And from the way she held herself, she knew it too. Despite all that she was willing enough to go through with this. And would no doubt come up with some plan to go around what obstacles he could come up with.

In that moment, Malfoy was reminded of his mother, the same determination and perseverance she had was reflected in the witch before him.

"Why not just write, _'Meet me in the Head Tower.'_?" She gave him a look.

"Oh please Malfoy! Do you honestly think you would've gone so had you known it was me that sent the note? You wouldn't have bothered to read past the first line had I written it like that. I wrote so it could have been from anyone in the school, minus a few obvious people. I was one of them. I'd never ask you for help, so why not meet up with the mysterious person?" She paused for a moment. "I also put a mild enchantment on the letter to keep it constant in your mind, so you would be thinking about throughout the day… I apologize for that."

Malfoy was having one hell of a night! The tiny little muggle-born witch, inferior to him in almost every way, had shocked him several times since the beginning of the conversation, and seemed intent on continuing to do just that!

He was slightly angered about the fact that he had been enchanted, but he waved that aside for more important thoughts. He did want revenge on Pansy. It would also be a good way to get back at his father. Even thought he'd been put in a maximum security prison cell in Azkaban, Draco wanted to rub something in his face. Because seriously, as a child he had been taught that a Malfoy bows to no one; Purebloods are superior to everything else, and blood would always win out.

And then his idiotic father went crawling back to the Dark Lord. How pathetic. Malfoys don't crawl, or bow or scrape before _anyone_. He may have agreed with some of the ideals, but not all of them. Besides, if all the inferiors were killed off, how and to whom would they be superior to? It was ill-thought logic. And just plain stupid.

But prior to his capture, almost a year ago now, he had been trying to force Draco to get the mark. And as much as he hated to say it, he really hoped Pothead would finish off the Dark Lord in the next year or so.

But back to the present. He looked again at the woman-child before him and made a snap decision that would hopefully be worth the venture.

"Fine. But there are certain things that will be done my way and no arguments will be brooked! You need my help in this Granger, not the other way around. You will do as I say and won't complain. Is that clear?"

She nodded in agreed. "I figured you'd say something like that. But just to clarify Malfoy, when I follow your orders or instructions, it will be for the continuation of our plan only. Be it in public or private. But if I don't agree, I will -not- do it. Understand that before anything begins."

The half-glare was really only done out of habit, she didn't have the energy to give a full scowl to the blond. She was tired and had gotten what she'd wanted. They could work the details out later.

"Alright. Send me a note sometime later this morning about when you are free to meet up to discuss details and begin planning. I'm tired and still need to work on some things before I go to bed."

She yawned and moved past him, but a quick wrist grabbed her elbow and stopped her from going any further.

"I don't think it's very nice to just leave your boyfriend without saying goodnight, do you?" He leered at her. She just looked at him through bored eyes.

"Goodnight _Cheri_." He pulled her back to him and dropped a quick, but forceful kiss on her mouth. She looked at him after he pulled away and gave a tiny half-smirk out of the corner of her mouth.

"Goodnight _Darling_." And then she turned and walked out of the Tower and back to their dorm. As Head Girl, she had no -real- time constrictions, as well as her own room and didn't have to report her (late) entry to anyone.

She knew that Mal…_Draco_, she thought, _his name is Draco and he is now your boyfriend, however falsely. And girls don't call their boyfriends by their last name!_ She paused as she remembered how she had called Ron by his last name not twenty minutes ago. _Unless they're seriously pissed off. And technically he's not even my boyfriend anymore either so really, that was a moot point._

-Draco- would be along shortly after her. She was hardly surprised that he had been named Head Boy, or that she had been named Head Girl. Because, honestly, who else would they have asked? Both were at the top of their year, Hermione slightly ahead of Draco; respected by their peers, and both indulged in extracurricular activities. Though Malfoy's, were, for the most part, actually sanctioned by the school, unlike Hermione's.

All in all, Hermione decided, it definitely could have been worse. She was up another hour, scribbling away on parchment. Most of it actually was homework and assignments due the following week, but every so often she'd jot down a possible idea. Malfoy had walked in half an hour after her. She bade him a goodnight as he moved from the common/study area to his room on the opposite side. Sighing, she finished writing her last thought and began packing away her materials. As she did she looked around the room that had been hers, and Malfoy's, for the past three weeks.

It was stylishly decorated in neutral tones of creamy ivory and a soft sea blue. A few accent pieces in sandy tones made the room complete. She had never been so thankful that the Professors had not tried to mesh Slytherin and Gryffindor colors together. Bad enough that she had been surrounded by red and gold for the past six years, but throwing green and silver in would just make it look like Christmas had exploded in their living space.

Not that she didn't like Christmas mind, it was just that the colors became irritating after a very short while. Especially if one happened to be a neutral-color kind of person, like Hermione was. But she had fallen in love with the room the moment she entered.

A fireplace had been set up on the left side of the room, with two beautifully simplistic gold and cream chaise lounges arranged around it with several large comfy chairs and benches placed strategically around the room. Two large, ornate cherry-oak desks were angled along the right wall to face a set of bay windows that were charmed to show summer weather with the occasional storm passing over.

Paintings of scenic valleys and little villages adorned the walls, there were no portraits thank heaven. On either side of the bay window was a door. These led to the Heads' rooms, and each had a balcony attached on the far side of the room. French doors, heavily warded mind, allowed air to flow through on nice days.

The only similarities between the two rooms were the beds, another, smaller, desk and the closet. The color scheme and any extra furniture came about by the student thinking it, wanting it, into being. Unfortunately, this period of 'wishing' only lasted for the first two days, so one had to choose carefully lest they be stuck with something they hated. Thankfully she had noticed the parchment on her personal desk that held instructions on how to utilize the room. She was unsure if Malfoy…Draco…had found his. But in all honestly, she didn't particularly care, as she didn't have to live in his room.

Quickly changing into her pajamas, she slipped under the covers and drifted off to sleep, feeling intensely satisfied with the way the day had passed.

**.x.**


	2. Chapter 2

Reposted: Feb. 23, 2011

**.x.**

_Quickly changing into her pajamas, she slipped under the covers and drifted off to sleep, feeling intensely satisfied with the way the day had passed._

**.x.**

The next morning at breakfast Hermione received a letter. A letter which was dropped into her porridge by a mediocre, brindled grey owl that wildly veered off. Raising an eyebrow as her eyes tracked the (slightly demented) owl, she glanced back to her bowl and sighed before gingerly picking the parchment out.

It was slightly damp and had a few soggy grains stuck on the back. Brushing those off, Hermione flipped it over and slid her finger under the seal and opened the letter.

_ At some point I imagine you'll be heading to the library. Most likely after double Transfiguration. We'll be partnering for our next project in Potions._

_ -D.M_

It was written in a ridiculously elegant, flowing script. _'Spoiled pureblood snots.'_

"Whatcha get 'Mione?" Ron had noticed her letter. She, in turn, noticed the food falling out of his mouth as he spoke. In a slightly frosty tone, and certainly without looking at him, she replied to his question.

"In case you have yet to notice Ronald, I'm not particularly inclined to speak with one such as yourself. And even if I were, which I must again point out, I'm **not**, it's no business of yours what I receive in the morning post. Or at any other moment of the day, or night or any circumstance in which we are forcibly together.

"If it does so happen to concern you, I'll be sure to let you know. Until that time, kindly avoid speaking to me. Go back to Lavender Brown. She's looking lonely over to your left, surrounded by girls giggling about your new couple-status."

She picked up her book-bag and stood. "And _don't_ call me _'_Mione!_'_"

Having fulfilled her morning attack on Ron's idiocy, she made her way across the Hall and to her first class of the day, double Potions. Today was the day they started their new projects, which meant that she was also meeting her new lab partner for the next several weeks, Draco Malfoy.

**.x.**

Being the first to reach the dungeon-classroom, she picked a spot that was near the front, but in the middle of the room. Harry, because of Snape's (obvious) dislike for him, sat with Neville as far away as they could on the Gryffindor half of the classroom. Not five minutes later the rest of the students began to filter in. Surprisingly, no one moved to sit next to Hermione. Malfoy was the last to enter before Snape magically shut and locked the door. It was a policy of his starting after OWLs. Those who didn't make it to class on time didn't deserve to learn.

Hermione surprisingly agreed with his statement. Especially since everyone was in their last year and NEWTs were coming up. Besides, if they didn't know to be early or exactly on time after six years of classes with the man, then really, they deserved to miss the class.

Slipping in just as the door slammed shut, Malfoy made his way to the empty seat beside the Mudblood Granger. It wasn't the only available seat, but he had advanced knowledge of the projects and didn't want to get stuck with some idiot like Bulstrode. Blaise would have been fine, but he and Granger needed to start on their act, and this project was a perfect way to start it off.

Plunking his bag onto the desk and sneered. "Morning Mudblood."

She didn't even look up from the page she was reading off. "Morning Ferret."

The class stared at them until Snape came in, cloak billowing to throw the edges out, making it look like bat wings.

He sneered at all of them. "We have just finished the _basic_ review, though I have no understanding as to why it took you dunderheads such an _impossibly_ long time to do something so simple.

"Starting today, you will be partnering with the people at your tables. There is a list of possible options on the board. Discuss with your group and then tell me which potion you will be making.

"This is a long-term project, going until Christmas. You will be graded on your materials, your methods, documentation of steps taken and overall performance. You will be using your own ingredients, if you need more or something you don't have, as you couldn't possibly begin to think of buying something beyond the basic set….You will come to me. If you have questions, you will try to find the answer before coming to me. If you want to book a lab to work on your potion outside of class, you will come to me.

Beyond these _basic _instructions, your time is your own. If _anyone_ fails to meet _any_ of the requirements, the entire group will fail the project." He smirked.

There was utter silence in the room. Never had Snape said so few insults. Most Gryffindors had their mouths hanging open, probably for the failing aspect. Hermione sighed. Idiots. She quickly copied the list of available potions down and turned to face Malfoy.

Apparently the two of them working peaceably together shocked everyone even more and they all turned to gape at the unlikely pair, who had yet to really trade insults.

"When I finish giving you instructions, it is presumed that you will all move and **start the projects that are worth half your final grade!**" The tirade ended in a yell and students clattered about getting their supplies ready and choosing a potion. Or complaining about who they were paired with and how much work this project would be.

Hermione let a small smirk through as she listened with half an ear to the voiced complaints throughout the class. She waited until Snape yelled at them to shut up before disappearing into his office, slamming the door shut, before letting out a quiet chuckle at her classmates' predicament.

Malfoy glanced at his new lab partner when he heard a soft, noise. She had a vague smile, it possibly could have been a smirk, on her face. _'Probably because she has something to occupy her time with now.'_ He thought snidely.

Looking at the list, he quickly picked out the hardest one possible.

"We're going to do this potion here, and I don't care if you agree or not." Hermione glanced to where his finger pointed and nodded in thought. It was the most difficult of all the ones offered and not many would dare try it. Ingredients were very hard to get and required impeccably precise timing. And because of the timing for some of the ingredients, they would need to get a pass from Dumbledore himself that would let them miss classes and be out past curfew.

She looked up at him and nodded. "Works fine for me Malfoy. We'll need to make a timeline of when each ingredient needs to be picked and added into the cauldron."

He sneered. "You can do that Granger. I will work on delegating all tasks necessary for the potion to succeed."

She snorted. "In other words, you're going to make me do all of it, or you're so sure of your skills and terrified of mine that _you're _going to do all the work!"

Reaching into her book-bag, Hermione pulled out a fresh journal to jot down the date, time, location and list what they had done so far; how they were 'dividing' the work load and a basic timeline for the project.

Malfoy quickly gathered his things and strolled out of the classroom. Hermione quickly followed. She knew where they were going. There were some ingredients that were so advanced neither of them knew where or when to get a hold of them.

**.x.**

Upon entering, Malfoy slowed his pace so the Mudblood would discretely pass him and lead him to a good work spot. And she did just that, though she noticed what he had done and gave him a small smirk. He scowled in return.

After setting their bags, and the books they had just finished collecting, on the table, which was somewhere near the back of the library, Hermione pulled out her journal.

"Do you have a journal or some bound object that you can write in Draco?" He hissed as she said his name. "Don't use my name in public you stupid Mudblood!"

Nonetheless, he tossed her a bound journal similar to hers; but only in that it was a series of pages bound together. There the similarities ended. Hers was a relatively cheap journal found in a bookstore while on vacation.

It was a deep, honey brown with a lightly pebbled surface. Oh. And her pages were white, unlike the ivory parchment the wizarding world seemed to favour, for some reason unknown by Hermione.

His on the other hand was made of soft, black, and most likely expensive, leather. Probably from some rare animal that hadn't needed to die, and had his initials, in a fancy, flowing script, embossed in real gold. The pages were impossibly even, and each page had his initials faintly showing on the bottom outside corner.

Quickly, before Malfoy could react, she muttered a spell over the two, linking the pages, and whatever would be written on them, together.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my stuff Mudblood!" His voice was angry and loud, but not so loud as to attract the attention of Madame Pince.

"Calm down Ferret! It was just a spell that shares what is written in one journal, with the other; a kind of immediate messenger. We can jot down ideas and share thoughts or actions we've taken towards the end goal when we aren't together. It's just an easier method of knowing what has been done so we don't duplicate any actions or ingredients.

"I've also charmed it so it will look like random notations from classes or project ideas should anyone else pick it up, or see us writing in them. Which means," She paused meaningfully, "We can use it to share ideas for our own plan against the Weasel/Pug."

Liking the ingenuity of the books, but not wanting to comment on it's almost Slytherin quality; he simply snatched his book back and made some snide quip against mudbloods.

And so they spent the rest of the morning checking reference books on where to find several of the more labor-intensive ingredients. Hermione was looking forward to gathering liquid Moonbeams during the Wizarding Autumn Equinox, which took place later than the muggle equinox.

Malfoy was the one who decided that she would be getting that one, as a magical virgin needed to hold the vial. Expecting an angry, or at the very least embarrassed, retort, he was surprised when nothing issued forth from her mouth. He narrowed his eyes at her as she scanned the paragraph of directions before nodding and acquiescing.

He frowned and went back to his own books.

When the lunch bell rang, they agreed to meet up in the Head Commons after dinner and discuss their various projects before making their way to the Great Hall. Hermione let Malfoy enter first and spent a few moments straightening out her slightly rumpled appearance.

Unfortunately, she didn't seem to notice the few Third Years coming from the opposite direction. They had also seen her arrive with Malfoy, neither trading insults with the other. The three young girls looked at each and then back at Hermione. Quickly, they made their way to the Hufflepuff table and shared what they had seen with the others in their year.

It was proven, by dinner time no less, which was exactly four and a half hours after lunch, that the Rumor Mill of Hogwarts™ was indeed possibly the fastest way to get information around; especially if the particular rumor wasn't true. And as with most rumors, it was exaggerated.

So when Hermione walked in to the Great Hall, after dropping her book bag off in her room, it went noticeably quieter. She quickly glanced around, but found nothing out of the extreme ordinary, and so made her way to sit beside Harry, Ginny and the idiot known as Ronald Weasley.

She took no notice of Ron's red face and thus was not quite prepared when he suddenly began to yell at her.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING DATING MALFOY HERMIONE! DON'T YOU KNOW HE'S OUR SWORN ENEMY? HE'S THE FILTHIEST FERRET YOU'LL EVER MEET! HE'S A DAMNED SLYTHERIN FOR FUCK'S SAKE MIONE! A FILTHY AND COWARDLY DEATH EATER! I REALIZE YOU LOVE ME AND I'M DATING LAVENDER, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD WHORE YOURSELF OUT TO MALFOY FOR ATTENTION! I AM HENCEFORTH FORBIDDING YOU FROM EVER SEEING HIM AGAIN!"

The entire Hall froze after the first few words spilled out of the angry Weasley's mouth. Gasps of shock and outrage came from the whoring comment. While Hermione was shocked stupid by the first sentence, she quickly became angrier and angrier the more he said.

After he finished forbidding her from seeing Malfoy and crossing his arms in cocky assurance she would do as he said, Hermione slowly stood up, wand by her side and turned to glare at him. Several people, namely Ginny, Neville and Harry, winced from the tongue-lashing they knew Ron was about to receive.

Everyone else waited with baited breath to see what would happen next. McGonagall half stood before Dumbledore raised a hand to stop her. Even Ron took a small step backwards when he noticed the fierce glare Hermione was directing at him.

And despite the calm quiet of her voice, the entire Hall heard what she said next.

"_You_ are -forbidding- me from seeing him ever again Ronald Weasley? _You_ who has no control over my life whatsoever? You who _had_ no control over my life even when we -were- dating? Oh, I realize he's a Slytherin, _Ronald_." His name was said in a patronizing tone. "I've realized he's Slytherin since I met him in First Year.

"And I've started to realize why his company is much more preferred over some half-brained twit who can _barely_ do magic correctly; who is _insanely_ jealous of his own best friend; who _can't_ find himself inside his ridiculously large family; who depends on _others_ to help him with flying and getting a position on the House Team; who depends on _someone_ to help, which really means _do_, his homework for him; who has no manners _whatsoever_, who speaks _before_ thinking and didn't know that he had a fucking Death Eater disguised as a pet_ rat_ for _ten years_ of his fucking life!

"And even if you don't like _Draco_, which I couldn't possibly begin to understand why, you have _no_ control over whom I do and do not speak to. And as it just so happens you moronic red-head, _Draco_ is the Head Boy and _I_ am the Head Girl. We are expected to WORK. TOGETHER. to accomplish a variety of given assignments throughout the year.

"And even if we _weren't_ Head Boy and Girl, he is my lab partner for possibly the biggest potions project we have ever received. I, for one, am looking forward to this project _immensely_ and will not have you ruin everything that I have worked so hard for. So good luck trying to keep me from seeing a. One. Draco. Malfoy.

"Hell Ronald, we even share a tower together. I might decide to go spend the night with someone who is intelligent and can actually understand the words and concepts that come out of my mouth! _Without _me having to resort to words usually reserved for speaking to toddlers!"

The Hall alternately gasped in shock at the female member of the Golden Trio spending the night with Draco Malfoy or chuckled in their seats from the comment of toddler language. Everyone was shocked at her swearing.

Her voice dropped about 50 degrees. "And I do not whore myself out to people. That's Lavender's job. Just because _you_ have no standards when it comes to sexual proclivities, does not mean I share that trait.

"_Yes_, Draco is a Slytherin; _yes_ he is -your- and Harry's enemy; _yes_ he has an idiot for father; and _yes_ he can be a bloody ponce, but you know what Ronald Bilius Weasley?"

The venom in her voice was now impossible to miss and Ron had crumbled from his earlier confidence.

"I would rather be stuck with Draco _for the rest of my life_, than be stuck with a bigoted, ill-mannered, and _completely_ brainless idiot, such as you, for all of thirty seconds!"

She picked her book bag up to loud, raucous cheers and made her way over to the Slytherin table where she sat down beside Malfoy and began to eat, muttering away about idiotic redheads who don't know when to keep their disgusting mouths shut.

Draco looked over at her in shock, as did much of the Great Hall, never once expecting someone like Granger, of all people, to go off on a rant to a member of the Golden Trio and swear. He paused; the Golden Trio wasn't a trio any longer. In fact, it probably just died, especially since Pothead and Weasel wouldn't last a week as a 'Golden' anything without the Mudblood to keep them alive and together in one piece.

He smirked at the Gryffindor table and continued eating his meal.

**.x.**

AN: Quite irritated with ... I had a lovely script I found for Dm's note. But once uploaded it turns normal...and I can only use italics to signify any change. urg.


	3. Chapter 3

Reposted: Feb. 23, 2011

**.x.**

_He smirked at the Gryffindor table and continued eating his meal. _

**.x.**

Over the next two weeks it became glaringly obvious that one Hermione Jane Granger was going out of her way to avoid one Ronald Bilius Weasley while spending as much time as possible with one Draco Abraxas Malfoy. It probably helped that Ron had been given a week's worth of detention by at least 5 different professors (each), so he wouldn't have any free time for the next month or so.

While not as noticeable, she also avoided Lavender Brown and her clique of friends. Apparently Lavender, and thus her friends, had been offended by Hermione's comment, despite it being the truth, about whoring being her job.

Though to be perfectly honest, her time spent with Malfoy wasn't a production of the Weasel's outburst two weeks earlier. It was a simple case of working on their potions assignment and the duties of being a Head.

Such assignments like planning the upcoming Hallowe'en Dance for the students. It was open to everyone, but for everyone under Fourth Year, the dance ended at 9pm. Everyone else was allowed to stay until 1am. Both Heads had to be there for the entire thing.

Currently they are spending their Saturday planning decorations and activities for the students.

"That's a bloody stupid idea Granger! Who, in the nine levels of hell, would want a _'Haunted House' _theme when we live in a castle that has its own fucking ghosts!"

"It's not an idea for the theme of the dance Malfoy. Since there will be younger students attending, I think it would fun for them to have to go through a haunted house/area to get to the main dance. Just because the older teens won't like doesn't mean the younger students won't.

"We can magically extended the Great Hall, create a haunted area that everyone has to go through and the end door will open up to the rest of the Hall where we'll have tables, food and drink areas and a dance floor."

The Malfoy heir looked to be considering it, so Hermione threw in another idea.

"We could also make the haunted house in a 'choose-your-own-adventure' style." She got a blank stare for that one. She sighed.

"Before you debunk it for being muggle, let me explain. Some authors will write a story and the characters come to a point where they can make one of two, sometimes three, choices. You, as the reader, pick which option you want them to do. Each option will have a page number, so you flip to the page and the adventure continues."

He seemed intrigued, his curiosity coming to the fore. Excellent, for her anyway.

"If we start the haunted house with 3-4 options that students can choose from and then create a different pathway every so often, they can have their own haunted adventure. No one group will go the exact same way. We can allow a group of students to go in a few minutes at a time.

"If need be, we could even get the younger students coming an hour or so before everyone else. That way there won't be a large line-up of students waiting to get in."

Malfoy looked at her a smirk on his face, "I like it Granger. We could even get some boggarts from the DADA professor to put in secluded rooms. There will have to be a clear window so the boggart can be seen by the students. Some torture chambers could be added too…"

He trailed off in thought and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "We could give the _illusion _of torture chambers," she told him. "With darkened windows and the sounds leaking through; chains rattling along, we might be able to get some of the ghosts to help us. Like the Bloody Baron for example? Peeve I think would love to help out and scare some students. Maybe even prank them."

She paused to think about what she'd just said. "…We'd have to figure out a way to keep the pranks from damaging their costumes. Do you think we could make it so they feel the effects of the prank but nothing actually touches them? Or should we maybe charm the pranks Peeves is allowed to use so they can't actually touch the students, though they'd still feel the effects…"

Malfoy glanced at her. "You're essentially asking the same question in two ways. Why not have charmed disks or something that they take through the maze and then at the very end, they'll re-appear at the entrance so we don't have to make so many."

Hermione nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Okay, so I'll talk to Professor Flitwick about the charms for protection, and decide on an object to use. If you want to work on those torture chambers? Or if you want, you could decide everything for the haunted house and I'll help you with the spell work to set it up."

Thus the remaining items needing to be finished were quickly divided and they went their separate ways.

**.x.**

"…So that's the situation Professor. We haven't decided on a particular object to be used, I thought we might possibly use medallions… But what we really need is a way to anchor the charms to the token, which, we hope, will allow the recipients of the prank to feel the effects, like water dropped on them, or goop, but without actually touching the students and ruining their costumes."

She had spent the last hour talking with Professor Flitwick about all their plans and the very great need for a Charms Master in setting everything up.

Flitwick mulled it over before posing a question. "How do you plan on getting these tokens back from the students? Will a prefect be at the end collecting them?"

Hermione had no answer. They hadn't come up with a solution for that as yet.

"Then if I may suggest, what about putting wards at the end of the maze. These wards will recognize the tokens when the students make their way out and essentially disapperate them back to the entrance."

Hermione thought about the idea it made a lot of sense. She nodded in agreement.

"Or," the professor brightened, "We could use Leprechaun Gold. We can charm it to disappear with a few hours."

"Except that we're trying to have a smaller amount of tokens that we can re-use to cut down on charm application."

"Ah." The two of them continued to wrangle out ideas of what to do and how to do it. In fact they continued right up until dinner.

And when Hermione walked into the Great Hall that evening, instead of moving to the Gryffindor table, she made a bee-line for the seat next to Draco Malfoy. Said seat was currently occupied by Mr. Gregory Goyle.

She walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He looked up and blinked. Hermione silently asked if she could take his place and Goyle slid over to make room for her. Everyone who could see what was happening was temporarily frozen. Malfoy had been talking with Theodore Nott and Blaise Zambini when Hermione came up and sat down.

Seeing their almost unnoticeable looks of curiosity, he turned around. Hermione glanced up from her dinner. "Don't mind me, I'll wait until you've finished your conversation with Blaise and Theodore." And turned back to her plate and journal in which she was making notes.

Draco blinked. Blaise grinned. Theodore smirked. Draco blinked again. Complete silence held the Slytherin table. Up at the Head table, Snape seemed torn between paling in shock or turning red from having an apoplectic fit.

Hermione didn't glance up once, though she did smile at everyone's reaction. In the somewhat silence, Ron's reaction could be heard fairly clearly. And in reaction to his outburst, several Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs of varying ages stood up and pointed their wands at him. Most surprisingly, the five Slytherin males sitting around her stood up as well.

Hermione hadn't bothered to pay attention to what Ron had said; she had long since developed the ability, sometime around February of her First Year. So when the bodies around her moved to stand, she glanced up from her journal.

Seeing at least 30 people with their wands pointed at a certain red-headed Gryffindor, she gave a soft smile. Gently pulling the two arms beside her down she spoke, "Thank you everyone. But you don't need to do that." Her voice changed from grateful for the actions of those standing up, to a hard voice full of mocking and anger.

"By now, we all know that the youngest male Weasley always speaks without thinking. And unfortunately for us, there is no cure for stupidity. Instead those who indulge in it must be pitied and helped, for they cannot help themselves."

She turned to the young man beside her, "I'll catch up with you later in the Head commons; I've lost my appetite."

Angry glares were tossed at Ron for the rest of the evening meal. The most forceful belonged to his sister Ginny, Harry, Neville and Draco.

**.x.**

The next morning, fortunately for Ron, was a Sunday and as such, the entire school body was not present when the howler from his mother arrived. Unfortunately for him, most of the Slytherins were down for breakfast; as well as most of the Ravenclaws. Most of the older Gryffindor students were awake as well and a smattering of Hufflepuffs rounded it all off.

Ron saw the red howler flying about the midst of the morning post and laughed at the poor sucker who was about to be shouted at. Apparently his behavior fro the previous night hadn't made a large impression on him. It did for Ginny though, and she'd sent off a letter to their mother later that night. It's probably safe to say it made an impression on her as well.

"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY! I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU DID LAST NIGHT! NOT ONLY LAST NIGHT, BUT TWO WEEKS AGO AS WELL! GINNY TOLD ME EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED. SHE EVEN HAD A TRANSCRIPT OF WHAT YOU SAID TO HERMIONE. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO ASHAMED OF ANYONE IN MY FAMILY UNTIL NOW!

YOU'VE BROUGHT GREAT DISHONOUR TO OUR FAMILY AND TO WOMEN EVERYWHERE. I TAKE WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT HERMIONE BEING A WHORE PERSONALLY, AND BELIEVE ME YOUNG MAN; I WILL BE REACTING AS IF YOU HAD SAID IT TO MY FACE WHEN YOU COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR CHRISTMAS, FOR THE FOLLOWING SUMMER AND THE THREE YEARS AFTER THAT! I DON'T CARE THAT YOU'RE IN YOUR LAST YEAR! YOU CLEARLY NEED TO LEARN SOME MANNERS! IN FACT, I'LL BE SPEAKING TO DUMBLEDORE ABOUT THIS!

PRAY BEFORE WHATEVERY GOD YOU BELIEVE IN RONALD, FOR THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, I WILL TAN YOUR HIDE SO HARD YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SIT DOWN FOR A BLOODY EFFIN' MONTH!"

Ron was trembling and his face a sickly pale colour.

"Probably on the verge on fainting." Malfoy snickered to Blaise. They had a good chuckle about that. Ron on the other hand, was terrified of what his mother would do to him when she saw him. But as Seamus so helpfully pointed out, Christmas was just over two months from now.

"It should give her plenty of time to cool off before you have to live under her roof again."

Ron smiled nervously, slowly gaining his shaken confidence. "Yeah, maybe she'll have forgotten it by then! Besides, what can she do to me now? I'm at Hogwarts, and she has no control over my punishments while I'm here!"

He grinned at his dorm-mates and turned to the delicious food filling the table, digging in once more.

Harry sighed after he heard Ron speak. Ginny smacked her hand against her forehead and Harry lowered his head into his hands while muttering, "Famous last words Ron; famous last words."

So it came as no surprise, for Harry and Ginny at least, when Molly Weasley came storming into the Great Hall that same day, just in time for the evening meal.

As it so happened, right as she thundered into the Hall, lightning licked across the enchanted ceiling and the howling wind could be heard. Those who still had usable survival instincts fought the urge to run and hide from the angry woman.

Anger-sparked brown eyes swept the Gryffindor table until they landed on a figure busy shoveling food into his mouth as fast as possible. A disgusted look crossed Molly's face as she watched her son talking to his friends, food spilling out of his mouth. She quietly walked up behind him and grabbed his ear. Hard.

"OWWWW! Ginny! What the fuck? What the hell did I…" He twisted around to glare at his younger sister and froze when the face he saw was not in fact the one he had expected.

"…Mom…?" Her glare hardened and her lips tightened. She frog-marched him up to the Head table in front of Albus Dumbledore and spoke clearly enough that the entire Hall could hear.

"Albus, I'm here to take my son, Ronald Weasley, out for the remainder of the year."

Albus stood and gravely looked at the mother before him. "On what accounts do you plead for removal of this student from the school?"

Molly glared at her son. "I feel that he is not getting the proper education he should have received early on."

Albus read between the lines and fought back a smile. "I see. A very serious matter indeed then." He stroked his beard in thought. His eyes were twinkling like a strobe light. "When you have deemed Mr. Weasley to have been brought up to par, will you be allowing his return to Hogwarts?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled, understanding what Dumbledore was silently saying. "If he can pass my tests within twelve months from now, he shall be returning as a Hogwarts student. However he may need to re-do his Seventh Year. I fear that he will not be able to simply take his NEWTs upon graduating from my education."

Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement. "Then, you may take Mr. Weasley now. He his henceforth no longer a student at this school. You may return him when you see fit."

Dumbledore sat back down and resumed eating his dinner while conversing with Pomona about the effect sugared lemon-water might have on the newest Bilubius plant she was growing in one of the experimental greenhouses. She scoffed in exasperation and the meal continued.

Ron was completely frozen. Eyes wide he stared at the space Dumbledore's face had previously occupied. He was jerked out of his trance as his mother pulled him off the elevated dais. Her eyes looked for a brown haired girl and gave her a look. The girl gave a minute nod back. No one noticed. Still completely shell-shocked Ron stumbled along behind his mother. They made their way to the Front Entrance where all of Ron's things had been packed away into his trunk by the house elves.

Levitating the battered trunk, Moll Weasley marched back out of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When they reached the limit of the disapperate ward, she did a side-long apperation to the Weasley home.

It was high time she buckled down and taught her boy they ways of the pureblooded world. Table manners would be the first thing he learned, so help her God.

**.x.**

With the shutting of the Great Hall door, whispers broke out in rapid gossip. Those who had been down for breakfast shared what had taken place with those who had not yet heard it through the Rumor Mill™.

Soon the whispers grew into excited voices, gossip running amok amongst the students.

Hermione and Ginny shook their head at the folly of it all and turned to Harry and Neville for some, relatively, civilized conversation. And when the conversation turned to quidditch, as it often would, Hermione pleaded exhaustion and made her way back to the Head Tower.

**.x.**

AN: Regarding what RW said about HG, something along the lines of whoring herself out the whole of Slytherin house and becoming their breeding sow. Which was why the Slytherins jumped in. Their honour (as HG is a muggleborn) was offended and they wanted reparation. Hufflepuffs were defending her honour, Ravenclaws valued her intelligence and Gryffindor thought Ron was being an ass.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Hermione and Ginny shook their head at the folly and turned to Harry and Neville for some, relatively, civilized conversation. And when the conversation turned to quidditch, as it often would, Hermione pleaded exhaustion and made her way back to the Head Tower._

*~*~*~*~*

As she walked through the stone hallways she thought about what had just taken place. It wasn't quite how she had imagined it, or how she had planned it. But Ronald had been completely and utterly humiliated. She had what she wanted. If Draco still wanted to go through with their plan, it was fine by her.

Satisfied with her thinking, she scratched the cat's left ear and the portrait swung open to reveal the common she shared with Malfoy. Moving into her room, she changed into a pair of comfy grey sweats and a small baby tee, a small smirk on her lips.

She was reclining on the white chaise lounge closest to the fire, staring into the leaping flames, when Malfoy walked in. He had seen her walk out and wanted to talk to her; they needed to figure out what was going to happen now.

He was struck by the image that she made, leaning against the raised portion of the lounge, one hand propped upon her head, the other holding a white mug of steaming hot chocolate. The golden glow from the fire danced across her face, lending a golden peach tone to her skin; her normal dull brown hair softened to a liquid milk chocolate, gentle waves falling over her shoulders.

Her eyes were half closed in relaxation, but when he looked closely, their usual colour of honey gold had darkened to a molten brown, swirling with small flecks of gold popping in and out.

It wasn't until her eyes moved up to glance at him that he realized he had moved to stand next to her. A bit startled by his own actions but not wanting to kill the relaxed feeling surrounding them, he moved to sit beside her curled up legs.

"So… Weasley is no longer here. You must be happy."

She stared into the fire for a few moments before looking at him. "I am. Though probably not for the reasons you think. I believe that whatever Mrs. Weasley is planning to teach him will do him a world of good." She turned back to the fire. Both were quiet for several minutes before she spoke again, in soft, dulcet tones.

"I don't hate him, at least not much, despite what it may have seemed like. He's been Harry's best friend since our First Year and since I was Harry's other best friend, the three of us hung out a lot. He has no tact or elegant mannerisms like you, but he has a good heart and is usually loyal to his friends. He sometimes just gets distracted by jealousy." She sighed.

"He used to call me names behind Harry's back. Said he was only letting me hang around because he felt sorry for me. I don't even think we could be called friends. But for some reason he began to turn my head.

"I knew we would fight all the time if we ever became a couple, but by then I'd had a crush on him for so long and he finally confessed the same. Harry probably laughed at us for taking so long to get together." Here she chuckled quietly; Malfoy smirked.

"I've grown up hearing Mrs. Weasley complaining about Ron's manners every summer. I also got to witness him manners practically every day for almost six years. The other boys had some mildly bad habits, but they could curtail them when company was around. Ron never could. I knew that nothing Mrs. Weasley could do during the summer would stick throughout the year. Ron is extremely thick-headed. And sometimes the best teacher is humiliation."

He looked sharply at her, wondering if she had learned that lesson through practical application or a book.

"I knew Ron liked Lavender. He'd always carried a thing for her, but he felt she was out of his league. I have no idea why he thought that but…" She scoffed. "Anyway, at some point during the summer I knew they began to send letters to each other. Part of it was because of family ties or something. I'm assuming that you know what I'm talking about, being pureblooded and all." He nodded.

"It hurt at first, I really did like him, heaven knows why. But after a while, logic pulled through again, and I realized he'd never really liked me. Not the way I liked him. For him, it was kind of expected that he and I date.

"During our first week back I spelled some of Lavender's personal items; things she always had around her. The silver charm bracelet her favorite uncle gave her before he died, her mother's old necklace, her pack of quills that are always in her book bag. I even spelled her pillow.

"They were all subtle enchantments, completely undetectable. I'd gone to Diagon Alley before I went with the Weasleys for school supplies just to check to see which books they had. I made a list of what I needed and how much it would cost to cover any extras that weren't school requirements. My parents pay for that, anything else I want comes out of my pocket.

"When I met up with everyone we went to get our books first and as usual I stayed there longer than anyone else. It was practically tradition, they'd get their books as soon as they could and then race over to the quidditch store, while I browsed the shelves. So I found what I needed without much trouble and paid for them."

She stopped speaking and took a delicate sip of her still steaming drink. Putting the cup back down, she looked off into the fire, seeing something entirely different.

"I had started giving Ronald potions with his food. So long as I masked in something like a pie or cake, some pastry or whatever Ron didn't think too much about the funny taste. Though he swore when we got married he'd never let me cook." She chuckled again, so did Malfoy.

"And eventually it all came together. Lavender developed a crush on Ron and he saw her in a new light as well. It all seemed very natural, hormones raging, seeing a very beautiful girl and then comparing her to your plain-Jane girlfriend. It was natural that they'd sneak around and I played the part of the jealous girlfriend.

"It wasn't hard really. I dredged up all my memories and emotions of when I first found out. I had confronted Ronald about it and he brushed me off, as usual. Said it was something I, as a muggleborn, wouldn't understand. I found that particularly amusing alter on, when I thought about it. He asks me for help with everything. And as a pureblood, he should know those things. Anyway, everyone knew that I was in love with Ron and they all expected revenge." Raising a sardonic eyebrow she continued, "It just came a lot sooner than anyone imagined. And in a very different situation I'm sure."

He smirked at her, she smirked back; the two of them indulging in their private joke.

"So when it was made public that Ron had cheated on me with Lavender, I'm assuming someone overheard my conversation with Ginny, I raged for a few days and then calmed before coming to you. You know what happens after that."

Malfoy stilled and thought about everything she had just shared with him. She had orchestrated the entire bloody thing!!

"You used me!" He was in shock she could tell. "Hell Hermione, you used everyone!" She looked at him and raised an eyebrow at his outburst.

"To be fair Draco, you knew I was using you. We agreed that we'd use each other the moment I proposed my plan. I don't know why you're so shocked now."

"But-!" He looked at her in crazed amazement. This little slip of a witch, a muggle-born, the lowest form of a magical human, had created this entire situation and moved the people as masterfully as a professional chess player. He was in awe of the petite Gryffindor before him.

A sudden thought occurred to him. "Did Mrs. Weasley know what you were doing?"

She smirked at him and his eyes widened at the deviousness hidden in that mouth.

"You'll always be surprised if you take the time to dig through records. Molly Weasley née Wardenhardt, was actually a '62 Graduate of Slytherin. Her family moved from a recently reunited magical Germany to England's magical community to escape from tensional pressures rising from the Cold War. She was placed in Slytherin and met Arthur Weasley in her Fifth Year when they were partnered together for Prefect duty and patrols.

"The rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor were still pronounced then, as it is today, but Molly was a well like Slytherin, and the same for Arthur in Gryffindor. So there was very little opposition to their eventual relationship and marriage. Molly was a sweet girl and helped anyone who asked. She was one of the most popular girls in school and eventually became Head Girl.

"Two years after they graduated, Arthur Weasley and Molly Wardenhardt were married and it was a very large celebration for Hogwarts Alumni. But then Voldemort rose in power and the Weasleys sided with Dumbledore and the Light. To say the least, many of their old crowd, from pureblooded families, disliked their choice and they were stricken from any and all acquaintances and meetings." Draco nodded every so often, mentally recording all that Hermione was telling him and checking it against his own knowledge of events.

"Mrs. Weasley nodded to me in the Great Hall after she finished her formal removal of Ron with Dumbledore. So I'm sure at some point things didn't add up to her and she worked it out. She may not know the exact extent to which I conducted things, but she knows that I played a part in Ron's behavior." She tilted her head to the side.

"It also probably helped that I put another charm on Ron. He tends to have a loose mouth which is never good, but he also has a wild temper and speaks without thinking the majority of the time. I just took advantage of that."

Draco gaped at her. "You mean everything he said was the product of a spell you put on him!?"

Hermione gave a sad smile; in a pained voice she continued. "No. No, that was all Ron. I merely released his inhibitions to do so. There wasn't really much to work with anyway, but I didn't want to leave any holes open. And that's my story. I did it to help Ron and I know he won't find out I was behind it, but I think it's best for him. Some humility and manners would do him a world of good. About Pansy, if you still want to work together on that front I don't mind. Alternatively, if you have no further use for me that's fine too."

Draco blinked at the sudden topic change. Pansy. In the past two weeks he'd completely forgotten about her. Odd. He didn't usually forget personal slights, though really he hadn't forgotten. It had just been pushed to the side by the hilarity of the Weasel's idiocy and Hermione's part in the whole thing. Which turned out to be much more involved than he had thought.

He looked at the young woman before him. "I suppose everyone thinks we're dating, we don't have to do anything really. We're spending plenty of time together with out Head duties and our potions project. Speaking of, tonight is the full moon, you'll have to get the liquid moonbeams at midnight exactly. You have just over two hours before we need to be down there. I suggest you get some sleep."

As he stood up and walked into his room, Hermione's eyes following his every move. She had always admired the grace with which he moved. Like a cat, a large cat, but lithe and graceful. More of a panther than a lion. She giggled. _'Not that he'd want to be compared to lion anyway!'_

Setting her mug on the floor, Hermione stretched out on the lounge and drifted into a light sleep. Draco would wake her when it was time.

*~*~*~*~*

The two shadows made their way out the front doors of the great castle and over to a little hill that overlooked the lake. Drawing a runic circle about her, Hermione took out two vials and a small purple and white flower. Gently placing the flower into one of the vials she drew one last rune and held her hands towards the moon, vials clutched between pianist fingers.

Draco had stood back from the circle so he would not affect the purity of the ritual. He noticed that Granger had two vials and supposed it was preparation in case they needed more or some went missing. He also noticed, too late, that Granger had put something in one of the vials.

"Grang-!" His yell was lost on Hermione at a delicate wind swept up around her, lifting her wavy hair and tossing it around. A soft, almost translucent beam of moonlight filtered down from the sky and poured itself into the vials.

The light seemed to go on and on forever, never stopping. Hermione was mentally glad she had added a never-full charm to the vials. It would have been improper for her to let the rare moonlight liquid to fall onto the ground and it would have been even more rude for her to suddenly halt the flow, saying she had enough.

And so she stood, safe in a runic circle, arms reaching upwards to the sky, her skin enjoying the cool, silky feeling of the moonlight whispering around her. A lilting music gently filling the area, always moving toward a delicate crescendo yet never actually cresting.

Finally after she had been frozen in that position for what felt like hours, the light stopped and the wind and music slowly died down. Her arms suddenly felt like lead and Hermione knew that she was going to collapse soon. With the last of conscious strength she stoppered the vials and fell forward.

Right before she hit the ground two strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled her upright. Through hazy vision she barely made out the blotch of silver-blonde hair and dark mercury eyes.

"Granger! Are you alright? What wrong? Granger! Hermione!?"

His calls were lost on her as her vision faded into black; her last conscious thought being glad she'd put the vials in her pocket.

*~*~*~*~*

Draco had stood there watching her standing in the circle, moonlight swirling around her. He could hear the vague strains of music filtering through the wind barrier.

He didn't keep time with his watch, but when the moonlight began to die down he was amazed that they'd been standing there for over two hours. He saw her put a stopper on each vial and then, almost in slow motion, she tilted forwards.

Draco raced up the small incline and caught her before she hit the ground. Blurred eyes looked up at him.

"Granger! Are you alright? What's wrong? Granger! Hermione!?"

He was panicking. He hadn't panicked in a very long time. Stupid witch causing him worry and making him panic. Her eyes drifted shut and what little effort she had been using to hold herself up was gone.

He sagged to the ground, his body wrapped protectively around hers. Quickly checking her pockets for the vials, he popped them into his own pocket so they wouldn't fall out as he carried the unconscious witch to the castle.

He was suddenly grateful that he had relatively strong arms from quidditch. Granger wasn't exactly heavy, but it was a long way from their hill to the castle, and then he had to carry her even further to get to their tower. He sighed. At least they had gotten their most important ingredient.

*~*~*~*~*

After he had placed Hermione on her bed and pulled the sheets over her, he checked her schedule for the next morning. She had Arithmancy. One of the classes they didn't share; his morning was empty of classes, a purposeful thing so he could sleep in. He smirked, no way would the Gryffindor witch ever have the guts to pull that.

He moved into his own room and set his alarm. It had been a long night and he was tired.

*~*~*~*

"Emmitt Tillsey"

"Here."

"Sandra Bellandy."

"Here."

"Hermione Granger."

…

"Hermione Granger?" There was no answer. Students began to look around the classroom, wondering where the ever-present girl was.

"I'll be taking her place for today's class."

Everyone turned to stare at the owner of the voice. There, in all his Slytherin glory, stood Draco Malfoy.

Students gaped at him. He smirked. Professor Sinistra gaped too, but recovered quickly and nodded. Though curious as to why Malfoy would be taking Granger's place the professor ignored that in favor of regaining control of the class.

"Alright class! Turn to page 294 in your texts, we will be continuing from where we left off yesterday. Mr. Malfoy I expect you take notes on what we are covering today and any spells, wand movements and diagrams should be copied. I do not expect you to participate."

The young man nodded in understanding and pulled out a sheaf of parchment.

*~*~*~*

Two hours of Arithmancy was enough to drive some people mad. Draco was thankful he wasn't one of those people, though it wasn't something he'd willingly indulge in twice a week for ten months.

On his way back to the Head tower he made a pit-stop at the kitchens. Tickling the pear, he strode in and asked the nearest elf for a small meal that was good for magical exhaustion.

Idly watching the comings and goings of the house elves, Draco easily passed the five minutes it took to make such a meal. He figured that it would take longer to make a specific meal for a magical malady than it would a regular meal.

Once he had the tray of food in hand, he quickly made his way to his room.

After setting down his notes and Hermione's textbook, he made his way into her room. Placing the tray on her desk he moved to her bed and gently shook her shoulder until she woke up.

"Granger, wake up. The house elves left some food for you."

The bushy haired female groaned a little and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.

Draco smirked. "You missed your first class."

THAT woke her up. Draco stumbled backwards as the covers went flying and Hermione jumped up.

"What!? Why the hell didn't you wake me Malfoy?" He gaped at her before moving his face into a scowl.

"What the hell is your problem Granger? And what exactly do you mean by, 'Why didn't I wake you'? It's not my bloody job to wake you up every morning. That's what alarm spells are for! And why the hell should I care if you missed your morning class?"

She snarled at him. "My problem Malfoy, is that I missed one of the most important lectures for my Arithmancy class! We were going over something incredibly important today that will be on the NEWTs exam and I was up ridiculously late, getting liquid moonlight because you're too busy being a man-whore to be able to get it yourself!"

She dashed around the room getting her things ready. "Now get out of my room Malfoy! I have to get changed!"

Malfoy sneered at her. "As if I'd want to watch." And stalked out of the room.

'_Stupid, pitiful, disgusting, little mudblood!' _He glanced at the desk he'd dropped her notes on and smirked. Everything was going according to his plan, despite the little witch being completely unreasonable and a bitch to boot. He let out a dark chuckle. Granger was going to owe him, and he would enjoy every minute of it.

----------


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: My apologies over being absent for so long and not updating. I received a new laptop for Christmas and haven't yet begun the transference of all my documents. In addition midterms are starting (ridiculous I know) and have been working on a few papers.

Hopefully you will enjoy this, and the next chapter (which should be up in a few days) as much as you have thus far! Thanks again for reading!

--

_He glanced at the desk he'd dropped her notes on and smirked. Everything was going according to his plan, despite the little witch being completely unreasonable and a bitch to boot. He let out a dark chuckle. Granger was going to owe him, and he would enjoy every minute of it._

*~*~*~*~*

Hermione raced around her room, throwing yesterday's clothes off and pulling new ones on. A quick _scourgify_ took the place of a shower, and a tooth brushing later, she glanced at her watch as she headed out the door. Her class had ended almost an hour ago and lunch was in 15 minutes. Quickly she grabbed her bag and ran as fast as she could to Professor Sinistra's classroom.

*~*~*~*~*

"Professor! I am so incredibly sorry that I missed class today! I was up late getting a very specific ingredient for my potion project and I didn't hear my alarm go off!"

The professor had been startled when the door had burst open, but looking up, there was Hermione Granger complete with a ruffled look and a flushed face.

"It's quite alright Hermione. It's the first class you've missed in almost 3 years. What can I do for you?"

Hermione gave him her best pleading face.

"Well I was hoping that you would have a copy of the notes for today's class, or some diagrams or something…"

The professor thought back to the end of the Seventh Year's class.

"_Professor you are not allowed tell Granger that I was here today. I don't want her to know that I helped her. I'll even pay you money to keep your mouth shut."_

_Malfoy glared at the professor fiercely. Granger could not be allowed to find out!_

_The professor was curious as to what was happening between the two Head students, but nodded in acquiescence. Ms. Granger would come asking for notes no doubt. Some lie would have to be thought up so she couldn't get them…_

"Unfortunately Hermione, I am still in the habit of using the blackboard for all my notes and illustrations. And as such I had to erase the old notes to write the new. I also had a beginner class right after yours. So I have nothing to give you. I would suggest getting a copy of the notes from one of your classmates."

Hermione sighed. "Okay, thanks Professor." She walked dejectedly out the door.

In her haste to get to the classroom, Hermione failed to notice the incredible lack of energy in her body. And so, now that the adrenaline had worn off, her body lagged and her stomach was pitching fits and rolling about like a ship in a storm.

Hermione paused to lean against a wall as her vision swam. Waiting for it to clear she thought of possible ways to get the notes. She'd beaten so many of the Ravenclaws in her Arithmancy class (she was the only non-Ravenclaw) that she highly doubted they'd be willing to help her out.

When she was able to see the world around her again, instead of blank whiteness, Hermione fought off the light-headed feeling that was crushing down on her and struggled to make her way to her bedroom.

*~*~*~*~*

It was very fortunate that a certain blonde Slytherin was walking in a similar direction and happened upon her form, sprawled against a suit of armor.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and bent to pick up the muggleborn witch and carry her back to their rooms, for the second time in under twelve hours.

And just because he felt spiteful, he purposefully took the long, and very public, route. A great many students saw Hermione Granger passed out in Draco Malfoy's arms that day. And just as many, if not more, explanations of how she came to be that way sprang into being.

Several students notice her haggard appearance, which brought the older student to believe she was unused to the late nights spent in Malfoy's bed. Some thought Malfoy had found her under attack from some unknown monster and fought it off to protect his lady-love.

The younger student, especially impressionable, young Gryffindors were angry at the thought that the Head Boy had attacked one of their own. Who also happened to be the current Head Girl of Hogwarts.

Draco sneered at the students who were staring in astonished wonder and then smirked about the rumors the mudblood would hear when she woke up.

*~*~*~*~*

Hermione awoke floating above the ground. Blurry spots of light and dark filled her vision. She shivered at the cool breeze and snuggled even closer to the warmth at her side, fingers wrapped in a smooth material.

Draco almost dropped the witch in his arms when she snuggled into his side. Catching his stride, he walking purposefully to the Head entrance just down the hall. Draco called out the password so the portrait would be open when he got there.

He laid the young woman on her bed, _'For the second bloody time today. Didn't she realize she was unconscious for a reason!?'_ And shook her shoulder to wake her up.

"Huh..? Whaa..?" Her voice was drowsy and slightly gravelly.

Malfoy glared at her. "Shut up. Do not move. Eat the damn food the house elves made. You were magically exhausted last night. You only slept for 7 hours. And then you wake up in a tizzy and sprint to a classroom that's on the other bloody side of the fuckin' castle!"

He stalked over to the desk which still had the tray of food on it. House elves were smarter than he gave them credit for really; there was a heating charm over all the hot food.

He snatched the tray up and plonked it on the bed by her lap. He glared at her. "Eat."

It was a tone that brooked no arguments. Meekly, the exhausted witch pulled the tray closer and began to eat.

The majority of it was fruit, exotic fruit at that, and a bowl of a thick beef stew sat, still steaming, waiting for her to eat it. A roll helped her to sop up the last of the stew juices and Hermione closed her eyes in contentment.

"I'll tell the professors that you're sick and won't be in class today. Don't move around too much and sleep as much as you can. I'll be back after dinner and we can discuss our plans."

He was out of the door before she could manage a thank you. Hermione checked her clock before closing her eyes. She'd made it to Sinistra's classroom in record time. The way back made another record, for the slowest time. She must've been passed out for almost an hour. She was lucky Malfoy had found her, and carried her, back to their rooms.

She had a soft smile on her face as she fell asleep. That was how Draco found her when he popped in between classes to make sure she was doing what he told her.

*~*~*~*~*

Hermione woke up around dinnertime, the delicious aroma of meat and spices filling the air. The house elves must have brought something up from the kitchens.

She smiled. Grabbing her favorite muggle book and the tray of food, she made her way to the chaise lounge in front of the fire and sat down. She ate the spiced meat and mashed potatoes (with gravy) while reading Jan Austen's _'Pride and Prejudice'_. Some scenes were remarkably similar to her life with Malfoy.

Once she finished the food, she moved the tray to her study desk so she wouldn't knock anything over as she read. As she put the tray down, a glimpse of white caught her attention. Looking into one of her shelves, there was a sheaf of parchment notes. Taking the bound pages, she read through the elegant script.

They were notes from her Arithmancy class today. Hermione quickly untied the knot and flipped through the stack. Diagrams, spells, wand movements, everything. It was all there! Unbidden tears pooled in her eyes. Someone had taken notes for her!! And then gave them to Malfoy to pass on.

'_Or…'_ She looked closer at the writing. _'I know that penmanship! It's Malfoy's!'_

"You called?"

Hermione shrieked and whirmped around.

Whirmp (v.)

1) The combination of jumping and whirling about, at the same time. Usually occurring immediately after one is startled.

Malfoy smirked at her and then walked impossibly close. Hermione breathed in a gasp at how close he was. She had to tilt her head just to see his mouth!

"You called _Granger_?" Draco smirked as the girl began to stutter. "Oh…I-um… I wasn't… I didn't mean…" She took a deep breath and looked at him through cool eyes.

"I hadn't realized I'd spoken out loud."

"So long as you remember that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." He turned and moved away.

Hermione huffed at the insanity comment but her arm snaked out and caught the sleeve of his shirt before he could move out of reach. Draco froze at the thought of mudblood germs on his new shirt. Hermione seemed to realize her mistake and hastily let go of the garment.

Before he either stormed off in a huff or started yelling at her for touching his clothing, Hermione opened her mouth.

"I just wanted to say thank you for taking notes down in class today. I'm very grateful to you for doing that. I'm also quite sure that you carried me back to my rooms, both last night and this afternoon." Her voice lowered in sincerity. "Thank you."

The Malfoy heir looked at her and nodded. He had seen her tears from earlier. He motioned for her to come to the lounges by the fire. Before she got there he picked up _'Pride and Prejudice'_ and read the back summary.

He snorted when he finished. "Kind of sounds like us doesn't it? Except we won't ever fall in love."

Hermione looked at him with a half smile. "It does indeed. You can read it if you'd like. I think there are some conversations you'd find particularly amusing." Draco gave a minute nod and settled down at one end with Hermione on the other.

They spent the next few hours working on their Head activities; prefect patrolling schedules, finishing touches for the Hallowe'en Dance and of course, organizing their schedule for the next set of ingredients for their potion. Hermione reminded him of the specific timing for several ingredients in the next batch.

They way they had it worked out, the potion would be finished three weeks before Christmas Break started. That would allow them some experimentation with the results written down.

*~*~*~*~*

And so the next three weeks passed in a blur of quizzes, studying, Hallowe'en preparation and working on their potion project.

Finally it was Friday and if that wasn't enough to get the students excited, the Hallowe'en dance was the next night.

During breakfast, Hermione overheard Seamus telling Dean how much he loved the rule that allowed the students the day after Hallowe'en off!

Hermione smirked and calmly pointed out that since the Hallowe'en was on a Saturday, their day off was a Sunday. A day they had off every week. A number of groans were heard once she finished.

She spent the day taking notes and marking down due dates for quizzes, projects and assignments so she would be able to get them done as early as possible. There was still a lot that needed to be finished for the dance tomorrow.

She made small talk with Harry in between classes, both of them wondering what Ron was up to. When they met up with Ginny at lunch, she pulled a letter out of her bag and read it to the two older teens. It was a letter from Mrs. Weasley on what she and Mr. Weasley had been teaching Ron; his improvement in certain lessons and how they spent their days.

It was refreshing to know that her plan had gone fluently and Ron was improving, however minutely, without too many relapses in his behavior.

Saturday afternoon, as soon as lunch was cleared off the tables, Hermione and Malfoy began throwing out spells and arranging the room to match their floor plan. Dumbledore and McGonagall re-sized the hall while Flitwick and Snape cleared the house tables and brought out the party tables (8 people could fit comfortably at one table) on one side of the Hall with the dance floor closer to the front.

When the hall was finished re-sizing, McGonagall conjured up hundreds of pieces of paper and began to transfigure them into the designs and ornamentation that Hermione had given her.

While the Transfiguration professor worked her magic, the rest of the assembled professors and Draco and Hermione worked on creating the haunted house that marked the entryway to the dance.

Draco had an explicit map of the different areas he and Granger had worked on and each section could be magically enlarged to see which spells were needed. Each professor got a section and set to work.

Snape looked at the section his student had given him. It was the torture chamber. He snorted. The boy didn't trust one of the other professors not to harp on him for it. Oh well. He cracked a few knuckles; well he _was_ the resident expert in torture. Let's see what horrifying images he could come up with. That would, of course, be allowed for young children to see… He smirked. In an almost childish voice (in his head of course) he thought about how fun it will be doing this.

It was a few hours later when the haunted house was set up, food and drink was ready and waiting to be set up, and the decorations were complete that a one Hermione Granger collapsed. McGonagall noticed her first and rushed to her side.

A quick _enervate_ work her up and she gave a weak apology that was cut off by a hacking cough. Draco was told to walk her to the Hospital Wing. Knowing that she would collapse again at some point he rolled his eyes and picked her up to waste less time.

The professors chuckled at that, though Snape sneered disdainfully at the muggleborn witch being carried out by his prize student, and they all went to change into their costumes.

*~*~*~*~*

"Madame Pomfrey!" His call echoed in the large hall that most students learned to dread by their second year at school.

The medi-witch poked her out of her office door and then rushed over to place her on a nearby bed.

"What happened Mr. Malfoy?" Her wasn't accusatory, something he was slightly surprised at.

"We had just finished making up the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en Dance tonight and she collapsed. Professor McGonagall woke her up with an _enervate_ and then she began coughing. It was more of a hack than a cough really. I think there might have been some blood that came up, but she probably swallowed it."

Pomfrey nodded. Pulling out her wand, she ran a few diagnostic charms over her body.

"She seems to have a low magical core right now, as well as a mild fever and a cough. I'll give her some potions and then let her sleep for a while. Looks like you won't have a partner for tonight Mr. Malfoy. Sorry."

Malfoy nodded and walked out of the wing. He quickly relayed the message to the remaining professors in the hall and then moved on to his tower. He needed to look good tonight. Not just because of his vanity, but he was representing Hogwarts' student body, he was the Head Boy and he was still a Malfoy.

Opening his closet he pulled out his costume and smirked. The student body wouldn't know what hit them.

--


	6. Chapter 6

_Opening his closet he pulled out his costume and smirked. The student body wouldn't know what hit them._

*~*~*~*~*

Four Fifth and Sixth Year prefects stood at each entrance into the Haunted House and consequently the Great Hall. Two were at the doors leading in and the other two patrolled the lines of students waiting to get in.

Haunted screams were heard from behind the cloth-covered door. The rattling of chains, growls from monsters better left unseen and the sound of whips ripping into flesh added to the overall atmosphere. The sound of Peeves' evil laughter as he reigned over his mini kingdom scared many a younger student into trembling. Little light could be seen when the curtains parted to allow a group of students in.

6 more prefects patrolled the various hallways of the house/maze, a map of the sections available in hand. They were disillusioned so younger students couldn't see them, and each map was attuned to a specific spell; should a group of students get into a spot of trouble, they were told to shoot of a warning spell, which would flare a bright red on the prefects' maps and the closest pair would go help the students.

Draco was already inside waiting, disillusioned, until the majority of the students had arrived. The first group of student had made it through the maze-like house. Sadly, it was a group of Hufflepuffs. Now that was depressing… He sighed.

Almost an hour later students in multi-coloured and multi-themed costumes crowded the tables and food areas. Every color under the sun, and then even a few more, were visible in a plethora of fabrics and designs.

Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement and everyone winced at his outfit. It was bright neon orange with similarly neon green and yellow in wild wacky designs. And an electric blue boa wound itself around his shoulders and neck, like a snake, and his hair had been coloured purple. His beard was pink.

"Good evening students!! Welcome to our first event of the year, the Hallowe'en Dance!" Raucous cheering thundered throughout the hall and rebounded from the walls back onto the students, making the clamour twice as loud.

"We are able to have such a dance because of our Head Boy and Girl, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. Unfortunately, due to sickness Ms. Granger will not be joining us this evening. So Mr. Malfoy will have to choose a dance partner as it is customary that the Head Boy and Girl have the first dance. But prior to that, Mr. Malfoy has an announcement of his own."

Draco nodded at the headmaster. "Some of you may have noticed the food and snacks are different from what you are used to. It was an idea of Hermione Granger's. The food and drink, as someone of you have undoubtedly figured out, is that of muggles, they same candies and treats muggle children received when they go out, trick or treating, I believe it's called. Since Hallowe'en is a time to be something you're not, we decided it was a time when we could try something we never have before.

As such, I hope you enjoy the night and try a little of something you may not have previously."

The muggleborn students all cheered, especially the younger ones. Pumpkin juice was just weird. Now they could have soda; and from the looks of it, there was plenty to go around!

Draco had been wondering what he was going to do about the first dance since his partner had so graciously gotten sick. He looked around the room. He saw Pansy trying to get his attention and made _sure_ that he avoided her at all costs tonight. He parents had probably reamed her out for cheating on him and gave her instructions to try and get back into his graces. He snorted. Like that would ever happen. One does not scorn a Malfoy and then try to become allies.

He was about to choose a random girl from the crowd when a dark haired vixen strode up to him and caught his hand. He turned to face her and sucked in his breath. Her dark black hair was twisted into a mass of curls that flowed over her shoulders and down to the small of her back.

A black, fitted top, so tightly fitted it could have passed for a corset, complimented her tiny waist and smoothed into a brilliant red broom skirt that draped over slim hips and fell gracefully to just below her ankles. A ruffle of fabric, the same colour as the skirt, went along the bust of the black top and snaked around her upper arms. Small gold beads dance and dangled, giving the young woman in his arms the look of a gypsy. A very enchanting gypsy, he amended.

She was barefoot but he could hear small bells jingle as they walked to the dance floor. She was wearing a gold anklet with small magical bells on each foot. Gracefully she spun to face him and her skirt flared out. Her red lips gave a small smile, almost a smirk; a challenge. Dark brown eyes looked up at him and flashed in amusement. She had the smallest amount of eye make-up; just enough to enhance her eyes and give them a tiny lilt at the corners.

Her light, olive skin gleamed under the lights dimmed lights. He placed an arm on her waist and took her free hand with his. The dance was a traditional Viennese waltz. The gypsy in his arms knew every step and never once moved her eyes from his. He could hear the whispers mounting amongst the students, everyone wanted to know who she was.

Together they moved gracefully around the floor in wide sweeping circles, never faltering in their steps; rising and falling in time with the music, they made a beautiful couple.

The Malfoy heir in a crisp, white poet shirt; fitted gold vest; and tapered black pants, made of the highest quality linen, made for a long, trim figure that intertwined with the gypsy-witch in red. His silver blonde hair was not gelled in a helmet against his skull like it used to be. Instead it was pulled back into a low horse-tail, a few pieces falling into his mercury eyes.

A small graced his face as he looked down at the witch in his arms. _Enchantress,_ he thought. 'It would be fun to find her in real life.' They moved slowly as the music changed from a classic waltz into a rumba. The dark haired woman glanced up at him, smiled, and moved out of his arms and into the crowd. Draco moved to go after her, but despite her obvious looks and outfit, he could not find a glimpse of her anywhere.

Seeing Pansy in the corner of his eye, he quickly ducked into a shadow and released his _glamourie_ charm that made him look like his normal self.

Pansy darted into the shadow of a dark, twisted tree that was hung with what looked like moss, but upon closer inspection was actually a parasitic creature that covered the tree and devoured it. She wrinkled her nose and took several quick steps to get away from the tree.

She looked around at the people milling about but could not find the tall, blonde man. A small brown haired student walked up to her with a bright smile and asked her to dance. Pansy looked at the thing before her and turned up her nose.

"Purebloods don't associate with those of lesser breeding." She sneered at the young man and turned on her heel to walk away.

When she was safely out of sight, Malfoy lowered the quick illusion charm he'd used to make himself look like some snot-nosed Fifth Year. He smirked at her retreating back. He'd be sure to put that memory in a vial for future reference.

Neither finding hide nor hair of the beautiful gypsy he had danced with, Draco made his way over to the punch bowls to help himself to a drink of the carbonated beverage called _root beer_. He wasn't entirely sure why muggles would want to drink something made of roots, but the younger years seemed to enjoy it. Including the Slytherins. And it would be suspicious if the Head Boy didn't eat some of the snacks he presented.

It was several hours later, after the younger students had gone home, that someone bumped into his shoulder and he whipped around to curse the unfortunate soul out. He came face to face with a smirking mouth painted red, a challenge in the dark, mysterious eyes. Taking the drink from his hand and setting it on the table, she led him to the dance floor where a fast paced Latin song had just begun.

Many couples came out to try their luck with the Spanish music, but eventually moved away to make room for the beautiful couple. The gypsy was once again dancing with the Head Boy, though no one knew that as he wore a glamour charm, and many people were jealous of one or both of them. Long, leather clad legs intermingled with those of the gypsy-witch. Black leather boots covered his shins and many worried he would step on the bare feet of his partner.

They needn't have worried, as the gypsy was a delicate, but sultry, whisp who danced in and around her partner with amazing fire and grace. Their bodies were entangled with each other and their eyes filled with passion as they moved with and against each other.

It was a dance of contrasts; they were together, she wandered away, he pulled her back; they were passionate, she was disinterested. It ended on a thunderous climax of music, the young man half lifting the gypsy up, but keeping her close to his body; one of her legs wrapped around his, her arms in his hair; she, a head above him looking down into his eyes; he, looking up into hers.

Both were panting hard from exertion as the claps and whistles rose up around them. She slithered down his body, but his hold on her never faltered. Arm in arm they walked over to the beverage table, "What can I get for you Carmen?" Her lips quirked from the name; she understood where it came from. A delicate shoulder shrugged. He raised an eyebrow.

"Don't want anything you've never had before?" She shook her head, not what she meant. He misunderstood and smirked, wanting to tease her. "Please, I'm a pureblood and even I had some. Root beer I think it was called. Surprisingly good, though I think some of them are acquired tastes."

Her eyes widened. He had tasted the soda!? She was in shock. While she was trying to regain balance from the little tidbit she'd just heard, the man in question had left and returned with a sparkling cider in his hand.

"I figured if you were so adverse to it, you'd prefer something else." She nodded her thanks and took the glass.

"So who are you?" She snickered. Go figure that was the first question he asked. A raised eyebrow was his answer.

"Seriously. I've never seen you before, I don't recognize anything about you, and I don't know anyone that can dance quite like you." Her mouth only quirked in an unreadable smile.

"You're going to make me play the guessing game aren't you?" She nodded. "Little minx." She chuckled at his playfulness.

"I'm pretty sure you're not in Slytherin, but considering we're in a magical school and I don't recognize you, I'm assuming you are wearing a _glamour_." A brilliant smile told him he was correct.

"Okay, so, not in Slytherin. I doubt you're in Hufflepuff since they seem like shy, quiet people." An indignant huff sounded and words made of fire danced through the air.

_Haven't you ever heard the saying: 'It's always the quiet ones.'? And if it helps, you __**do**__ know my name._

"I have indeed heard that saying, however, I do believe that was meant for private happenings. Or after someone has snapped and goes bat-shit crazy in public and nothing can stop them. You on the other hand, seem to be in perfect control of your wits."

_And my wiles. _

He laughed at that and fought to get a hold of himself when people turned to look.

"Indeed you do Minx." She mock-frowned.

_I think I prefer Carmen_.

"Carmen it is then, and if that's the name you were referring to, it doesn't count since I gave it to you."

_Fair enough._

"And what do you plan to call me, my dear Carmen?"

_Probably your name, seeing as that makes the most sense._

A smirk accompanied the words. He lifted an aristocratic eyebrow.

"I am wearing a _glamour_ as well. You think you know who I am?"

_No._He smirked._I __**know**__ I know who you are__._ He frowned.

"Alright then. What's my name, Carmen?" The fiery words were small enough to not be seen by passers-by. A flick of the wand moved them up to eye level and he looked at his name.

_Draconis L. Malfoy_

The words disappeared. He nodded his head. His voice was somber now. "Indeed. That is my name. Do you not care that you just performed a very sultry dance with the Ice Prince of Slytherin? The son of Death Eater Lucius Malfoy?"

His voice became bitter at the end. Beautiful dark eyes looked up into mercury ones.

A soft whispered voice drifted up to his ears. "I want to know who you are. Not who everything thinks you are."

And then she grabbed his head and pulled him down for a kiss. Surprised, Draco was still for moment before he regained his wits and pulled the girl closer. Their kiss was interrupted by Dumbledore calling for the attention of the students.

"Students!" He raised his wand and a loud bang issued forth. "We are going to be attacked in a few short moments. If I could please ask the Fourth and Fifth Years to follow Professors McGonagall and Snape out of the Great Hall; anyone in their final two years, if you would like to stay, you are welcome to.

"Please be aware that these are seasoned Death Eaters you will be fighting against. I wish you the best of luck in your duels and pray that you all live through this night."

McGonagall and Snape had just made it through the hidden exit with the students when the doors burst open. Draco quick sent a barrage of pure magic at the Haunted House and all the dementors, boggarts and illusions were released from the areas in which they'd been placed.

Professor Flitwick knew a surprising amount of battle magic and switched between that and using effective charms against the enemy. Draco saw a group of Death Eaters surrounding several Seventh Year girls who were struggling to fight back.

Lavender, Pavarti and Padma had little knowledge of defensive or even offensive magic and their group was quickly being cut down. The red clothed gypsy girl slid into their circle and began casting curses at the men in black cloaks.

"Use anything you know, like a powerful cheering charm. You know beauty spells, and other such things right? Use those! It'll throw them off balance!"

The three girls looked at each other and nodded. They began to fire off Breast enhancement charms, transfiguring the cloaks into less movable, female clothing, and gave them ridiculously long hair before animating it to wrap around the attackers' heads and bodies, effectively hindering their movement.

Draco, seeing that the girls had changed the tide, moved on to help other beleaguered students and teachers. A group of Sixth Year Ravenclaw prefects had conjured vats of acid and boiling water before dumping them on the heads of unsuspecting Death Eaters.

He saw Pothead and Longbottom fighting off a large group that seemed to include the three Lestranges and Dolohov. An impossibly loud bang sounded behind him and he saw a large anvil on top of some poor soul.

'_Well, not really a poor soul. He's probably killed countless people and was just involved in an attack against school children.'_ Feeling much better after he rationalized his vindictive emotions he hexed someone the Death Eaters in front of him. He was about to reach Pothead and Longbottom when a sizzling blue spell shot towards him.

*~*~*~*~*

Carmen had begun healing the downed twin while the other three fought off the cloaked men. After finishing that, and tying up the morons (who were now _stupified_), Carmen looked around to find Draco. Seeing him fighting his way to Potter she raced after him, ducking and dodging spells, giving as good as she got in return.

After stunning a particularly large man, she turned around just in time to see an electric blue spell move towards Draco at high speed.

"DRACO!"

He looked into her eyes just before the spell hit. She raced to his fallen form.

"Draco! Draco! Wake up, you can't die on me!" Tears pooled in her eyes. "You haven't even figured out who I am yet." There was a weak chuckle. Molten silver looked up at her.

In a weak voice that never should come from the mouth of Draco Lucien Malfoy, he spoke. "I…know…spell is…" Small gasps of pain broke up his words. "I need…you…. take me to…manor...'Mione."

She gasped out loud. "You knew?! You knew all this time and you didn't tell me? You played dumb that entire conversation?"

His skin paled even more and his sounds of pain grew louder in the coming silence. It seemed that Hogwarts had won the battle.

"Talk…later...maybe?" He could barely get the words out through the pain, his teeth clenched in an attempt to control the fire in his body.

"Oh, right! _Mobilcorpus_." His levitated form trailed behind her as she ran to the hospital wing fireplace. Madame Pomfrey rushed out of her office at the noise.

"Young lady! What on earth is happening?"

Hermione was gasping for breath by this point. "Death Eaters…attack…Great Hall… students…help! Taking…to….family…manor…!"

Pomfrey nodded and handed her the bowl of floo powder. Shooting a stream of fire into the fireplace, she wished the young woman good luck before grabbing her medical bag and ran to the Great Hall.

Hermione threw the powder into the fire and watched it turn a brilliant green. Gathering Draco into her arms she cried out, "Malfoy Manor!" And stepped into the fire.

--

A/N: Sorry for his costume everyone. I know some of you were really excited about it, and I know that I completely failed int hat regard. When it came to actually writing it, I couldn't find anything that really stood out for me. If anyone has a suggestion, I'll look over it and if I like it , I may re-write this chapter with the new outfit and give credit where credit is due.

Thanks for reading!

August


	7. Chapter 7

Published Mar. 17, 2010. Happy St. Patty's All (totally didn't wear green...I forgot)

--

_Hermione threw the powder into the fire and watched it turn a brilliant green. Gathering Draco into her arms she cried out, "Malfoy Manor!" And stepped into the fire. _

*~*~*~*~*

Hermione clutched Draco's limp body forcefully as the green fire whipped around the two, sending them through a whirlwind labyrinth of fireplaces flashing by.

She felt the first stings of the Malfoy wards as their exit came up. She was an unknown to the house, as well as a mudblood. She almost lost her grip on the unconscious Malfoy as the fireplace spat her out, onto a very luxurious shag carpet that covered the floor.

The wards began to attack her in earnest, and yet held back because of the Malfoy heir in her arms. It was this sight that Narcissa Malfoy walked into. She'd felt the wards going off as an unrecognized magical being tried to enter Malfoy Manor. They had fought against the entry of the being, but eventually receded to allow the being(s) in.

When she walked through the door way she came across a brown haired seductress holding her son while the wards alternately attacked and defended. Sparks and lightning were running across the young woman's skin as the semi-sentient wards attacked her. But she was also protected because of the Malfoy heir in her arms.

The girl seemed to realize that her holding him was causing the wards to attack him as well, adding to the pain he was already in; and struggled upright before hauling the heavier body to a waiting couch. As gently as she could while being attacked magically, she set him down and then crumpled as the full force of the attack hit her.

Narcissa walked in at that point. Elegant, black boots came into Hermione's blurred vision.

"Voldem...attack...Hogwarts…Draco…electric…blue...Malfoy….Manor… knew…what…was…"

She struggled to breathe, small cuts opening over her skin. Small dribbles of blood came out the corner of her mouth and her nose. Narcissa looked down at the girl, her form curled up in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid pain, her body breaking out into spasms every few seconds.

Glancing over at her son, she threw a pinch of floo powder into the still-burning fireplace and called out the name of the Malfoy family's Healer. He arrived soon after. Narcissa once again looked to young mudblood on her floor. She sighed and took a clean white handkerchief out of her pocket.

Dabbing it along the now unconscious witch's mouth, she pressed the bloodied section into a small engraving along the fireplace. The witch was temporarily allowed through their wards.

Waving her wand, the limp body floated up and followed the stately Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy as she made her way to a guest room, before going to see her son.

She passed along the information the witch had given her and then left so the Healer could work in peace.

*~*~*~*~*

Several hours passed before Hermione opened her eyes to a deep red, velvet canopy that was so high the peak fell into shadows.

'_Or it could just be a spell since you __**are**__ currently live in a magical society…'_ Her rational thought won out. Her memory of what transpired that evening came back and she realized she was in the Malfoy home.

'_In which case, the ceiling really _could_ be that high…'_ She shook her head and decided it didn't really matter at this point. Feeling around her skirt for her wand, she sat up and spoke at _point-me_ charm to find Draco.

It took her several minutes and more than a few wrong turns before she finally came across his room. A healer was just packing up his things as she quietly opened the doors. A brown head turned to look at her and then dismissed her.

A quiet "Don't wake him." was the only direction aimed at her. She nodded and sat down in the chair beside the large bed. She observed the way his hair fell gently across his face; the sharp planes and angles softened in sleep. He didn't look angelic, nor like a god, as some of the older females of Hogwarts said.

She remembered that he had called her by her actual name, not Carmen, when he told her to take him to Malfoy Manor. As she sat and looked at him, she wondered how he could have known, and then proceeded to mentally go over each interaction they'd had the previous night, trying to find her mistake of letting herself be known.

She couldn't come up with anything resolute and decided to ask him when he was awake and feeling better. Sighing, Hermione stood up and made her way out of the room. Muttering another point-me charm to find Mrs. Malfoy, she wound her way throughout the manor until she came across the beautiful lady of the house.

Narcissa Malfoy was sitting in the very room Hermione herself had flooed into. She was sitting on a beautiful, mahogany red bench, ankles delicately crossed, a fine china teacup and saucer held in one hand and a clothing magazine in on her lap.

She didn't look up but tilted her head in acknowledgement of Hermione's presence. Hermione curtsied low.

"I thank you for allowing me rest Mrs. Malfoy and for allowing me into your beautiful home. I am well enough to travel now and should be getting back to Hogwarts to alert the professors of what has transpired. If I may take my leave, Lady?"

Narcissa was amused and vaguely impressed with the girl's manners. Since she didn't recognize the girl, she assumed she was a mudblo-muggleborn. And impossibly few of them knew proper etiquette; especially when it came to addressing a lord. Or a lady, in this situation.

Narcissa stood and looked at the girl. Her costume from the Hallowe'en dance was covered in soot from the floo system and had cuts all throughout from the wards' attack.

"You were hurt in your attempt to bring my son to a cure only our family knows. In thanks, I myself looked after your wounds and I now consider my debt to you repaid. If my son feels any debt toward you, he will speak to you about it and you will discuss with him.

Beyond that I feel no obligation towards you or your person. You may use some floo powder to return to Hogwarts." She brushed past the younger witch and moved into the hallway.

Hermione was slightly off-put by the brusque tone Mrs. Malfoy has addressed her with, but put it down to aristocracy and their mannerisms. Padding over to the fireplace she grabbed a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fire.

She eyed the green flames nervously, but calmly stepped forward and called out, "Hogwarts Hospital Wing!" Remembering her last tumble through the labyrinthine floo system, she kept her arms close to her sides and managed to stay up-right until the flames spat her back out into the Hospital Wing.

Madame Pomfrey looked up at the clatter that came from the fireplace in her office and made it to the door just in time to see a curly, dark haired witch tumble head over heels onto the stone floor. Recognizing her from Dumbledore's reports, Madame Pomfrey now knew it was Hermione Granger.

Muffling a chuckle, she stepped forward. "Dumbledore said to send you to his office when you arrived Ms. Granger." Hermione, despite the dazed look on her face, nodded and brushed excess soot off her ruined dress.

As she made her way to the Headmaster's office, she muttered a few cleaning and repairing charms and conjured a hair elastic and pulled her curly, dark tresses into a side pony.

The gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office jumped aside even before she could open her mouth to guess at the password. She made her way up the winding staircase and gently knocked on the door before entering.

"Ah! Ms. Granger! Please, have a seat." She nodded her greeting and sat down in the only empty chair. The rest were filled with the schools' professors.

Gentle blue eyes focused on her as she began telling her perspective of what had taken place the night before. She concluded by telling them that Draco Malfoy made it home and was stable the last she saw him.

The professors' faces were grave and several gave her pitying looks. Dumbledore nodded at the conclusion and told Hermione to take the rest of the day off in her rooms. She nodded and left the office.

Once in the Head tower, she stripped off her clothes on her way to the bathroom. After shutting the door she pulled on a soft, thin, milky white robe and turned on the taps for the bathtub. Said tub was big enough to accommodate several large people, and Hermione looked forward to being alone, with the jets turned on halfway.

A flick of her wand and gentle soothing music permeated the air. Dropping the robe, she slid into the tub; warm water and a soft vanilla scent rising up to meet her. Hermione closed her eyes and enjoyed the small waves gently crashing against her body. The small smile disappeared as the glare of the bright lights on shining white stone blinded her.

A hasty spell or five later, the lights had been dimmed almost to the point of non-existence and several white and sea green candles were placed around the edge. Some were transfigured into little flower shaped candles with a buoyancy charm added and placed on the water. Others were charmed to hover in the air and slowly move about.

Hermione sank until the water level came up to her nose and closed her eyes, allowing the calm and soothing atmosphere to work away any tensions from past 24 hours. As she soaked, Hermione thought about the two times she had danced with the heir to the Malfoy family.

Images of their bodies pressed against each other and their sensual dance of cat and mouse played across her mind's eye. The way they had waltzed in front of the entire school, bodies perfectly matched; every step in synch with the other. She marveled that two people who had never danced together before were able to look that good as a pair.

She had known who he was from the very start. She had seen him ducking away from Parkinson and bringing up a _glamour_. Even if she hadn't seen that, she'd accidentally come across his costume a few days prior.

And then, for the first time in her life, Hermione Granger decided to stop thinking. She pushed everything aside and focused on the sensations the water made against her skin, the smell that she breathed in every few seconds, the sounds softly filtering in and the gently lit surroundings.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and resolved to spend the next several hours in the bathroom.

*~*~*~*~*

Draco Malfoy was notably absent for the following few days. Many of the Gryffindors and some younger Hufflepuffs were also noticeably gleeful about that. Hermione felt more than a little angry that her housemates were rejoicing over the injury Malfoy had sustained in the Hogwarts attack.

She pointedly ignored any and all who gave voice to similar feelings and would frequently prop a book up so as to discourage any conversation. A tap on her shoulder Friday morning roused her from the intricate theories of Charms. Tilting her head, she looked into the mismatched eyes of Blaise Zambini.

The neutral look Hermione received gave her no misgivings; so when Blaise's head angled toward the Slytherin table she nodded and gathered her things. Silence reigned supreme until the two sat down amongst the Seventh Year Slytherins, and then wild whispering broke out in the hall.

"We wanted to know what happened to Malfoy." Hermione gazed at all the eyes focused on her. She pursed her lips.

"I don't know how close any of you are with Malfoy, and I like to think I know enough about Slytherin politics to know _not_ to give out free information; especially considering the subject. And no matter what you say, I also have no way of confirming how close any of you actually are to the subject.

So the only thing I will say is that Malfoy is in stable condition. If you want to know more, owl him and ask him yourself. I'm not a public messaging board full of free information."

She stood and shouldered her bag. Snapping up a warm blueberry muffin she walked to her Ancient Runes class.

*~*~*~*~*

Draco looked blearily around the Head commons when he arrived, late Friday night. He had successfully managed to steer clear of any nosy, questioning people; though a fair number of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs saw him wandering through the halls.

The attack had made front page in The Daily Prophet and a few owls had been sent his way. He had received an owl around lunch from a nosy Slytherin by the name of Blaise Zambini. In it, Zambini outlined what little they had gleaned from Granger and what they wanted more details about.

Draco made a mental note to remember to thank the bushy-haired Gryffindor as he stumbled over to his room, thankful that no one could see him looking like a drunk.

"You alright Malfoy?"

He froze minutely at the soft voice that popped out of nowhere. Turning around he saw an equally bleary-eyed Granger stretched out on the chaise by the fire.

"Didn't know anyone was out here; wasn't trying to wake you." Granger nodded and stifled a yawn. Her eyes took a few minutes to focus of the figure to her left.

"S'okay. I didn't mean to fall asleep in front of the fire anyway. Tomorrow we have some Head duties to figure out and begin planning."

He dipped his head in acknowledgement and continued stumbling to his room. Granger muttered a charm to lower the fire, but keep it burning in a controlled manner, and departed to her room as well.

*~*~*~*~*

Saturday dawned bright, clear and cold enough to leave the first frost on the quidditch pitch. Not many people were awake for an early breakfast. Two such people were Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.

So while this normally wouldn't have been a big deal, the relatively recent scandal of them being together was still up in the air where people could latch on to the idea. So speculation began that the Head Boy and Girl had spent the night celebrating, in the most carnal of ways, the fact that the Malfoy heir was alive and well.

Word had spread like wildfire by the noon meal and when the two came down together, it only lent more fuel to the fire of Hogwarts' Rumor Mill.

Draco received a thick, cream envelope with his father's personal seal on it halfway through his lunch. Knowing several protection charms would be on the envelope, he didn't mind opening it with people around.

Silver eyes quickly scanned the writing, a scowl becoming more and more prominent on his features. Disregarding the signature at the bottom, he stood angrily and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Hermione pulled out her journal to jot a few notes down from the current book she was reading. At least, that's what it looked like to everyone else. Instead she jotted a line down and waited for a response.

A few minutes later the reply came in an angry, harsh scrawl; a far cry from his usual elegance. Glancing up at Ginny and Harry, she waited for another five minutes before snapped her book shut.

"Hey guys, I have to go to the library! I just found something crucial for my research! Well, really it's a link to something I was researching, but I found a mention of it in this book. And really it's not even a link, just a very brief reference to a similar ingredient that helps with my research and it also has-"

"Okay, have a good time Hermione!" Ginny cut of her mindless speech and she got an amused glance from Harry. She smiled at them and walked out of the hall, a bounce in her step.

As soon as Hermione knew that she was in the clear and no one would see her, she disillusioned herself and raced to a particular spot in the back of the library.

Her sacred spot, normally lit by dimly filtered golden light from the nearby stained glass window, was a black thundercloud of anger and rage. She was frightened by the look on Malfoy's face and almost didn't want to go up with him. She sucked in a breath, hoping to keep hold of her Gryffindor courage in that breath and stepped in.

The angry dragon vaguely registered the witch's presence and continued with his pacing. Muted words tumbled from his snarling mouth, his face set in a perpetual snarl. Moving as if the wizard in front of her was a dangerous, caged beast, Hermione slowly took small step after small step until she reached the table.

Before she could even think about what she was doing, or the consequences of her actions, she **loudly** plunked her bag on the table and sat down, heaving out a sigh. Feeling the force of Draco's glare on her form, she ignored him, tried not to shiver, and opened her book bag.

She had been reading her book for a good five minutes, Draco's eyes boring a hole into her skull, before he finally snapped.

"What the hell are you doing?" In exact contrast to his explosive anger, she was calm and quiet.

"I'm reading a book Malfoy. I would have thought that was obvious. And I'm going to assume you'll read it too, as it pertains to our potions project. Which needs the next ingredient by tomorrow at noon."

He glare had turned into a blank stare. "Right. Our potion. Okay." He shook his head

"What made you so angry as to storm out of the Great Hall in a snit?"

Draco hesitated before turning around and grabbed the letter he had thrown on the table. "Read it."

Hermione took it from his hand and skimmed her eyes over the fancy script.

Son,

I have received news of the attack on Hogwarts. It was smart pretending to be on the Muggle-loving Fool's side. However, I trust you will accept our Lord and Master's offer of joining his noble cause when it comes. If he has not done so as of yet, it will be soon, perhaps just after your Coming of Age.

You would do well to begin looking for your bride. Parkinson will suffice. Her father and I have been talking through the arrangement for the past several months. She has enough prestige to lend even more to the Malfoy name and her dowry won't hurt our coiffures any. Her looks are well enough to mix with the Malfoy genes and pass on to your offspring.

I had better hear news of your engagement soon Draconis, or there will be consequences to be paid!

Sincerely,

Lucius Malfoy

She placed the parchment on the table. _'Nice family.'_ Looking up at him Hermione wondered what the problem was. She, Ron and Harry, and pretty much every student in the entire bloody school, had thought that Malfoy would follow his father's footsteps as a member of Voldemort's Inner Circle.

"Not to be rude Malfoy, but why exactly does this bother you? The entire school thinks you're already a Death Eater and are working your way up the ranks to take your father's place."

"Of course that's not rude. Not at all." She gave him a weak sneer. "Pitiful Granger. Truly pitiful. My 'exact reason' as you say, for this bothering me, is because my father, the idiot who taught me to **never** bow down to someone, has dwindled our family fortune from an amount that would suffice for several generations of 'big-spenders', to an amount that is almost less than that of newly blooded families.

"And what has he spent it on? Absolutely demented plans that as of yet have not reaped any sufficient profits for our family, let alone their side. It was ingrained in me as a child, that if it the gains do no exceed the cost, it's not worth my attention.

And when the Dark Lord calls, my father comes, like a _dog_ begging for a treat. A dog who loves his master even though he is starved and beaten. There is no free will in that, that cult! And I will not partake in such idiocy!

"He goes against everything that the Malfoy name stands for! And I cannot allow that any longer!

And while I don't exactly like the idea of consorting with mudbloods and half-bloods, I do realize that they _are_ needed in a class society. If there are no peasants, how are the nobles differentiated?

"My father has been found a member of the Dark Lord's ranks, justly tried and put in Azkaban. My 17th birthday, the day I become a legal adult in the eyes of the Ministry and the magical community, is in just under two months. And because Gringotts does not formally recognize anyone in Azkaban as a Head of a family, I will assume that title upon my Coming of Age. Once a Malfoy becomes Head, no one can take it away for the first two years; as such my father cannot in any way wrest control back to himself. So long as I have married, or am engaged, by the end of the second year, the Malfoy Headship will remain mine."

Hermione translated _nobles_ as _purebloods_, _new blood_ as pureblooded families that weren't as old as the Malfoys; took slight offense to the peasant remark; and was more than slightly surprised, and a little confused, to hear his plans.

She muttered a passing thought out loud, "I wonder if any of his followers know he's half-blood..." Draco's head snapped around to look at her.

"What did you say?" Hermione, not realizing she's spoken loud enough for him to hear, gave him a blank look.

"I just said that Voldemort is a half-blood himself; leading a bunch of blood purists to destroy any human less than them. In which he's included. So if he did rid the world of all blood impurities, and then reigned supreme, if any of his followers truly believed in their theology, they would have to kill Voldemort as well.

"But no one seems to have realized that yet. I suppose Voldemort would kill anyone off if they did know." She thought for a moment.

"So you're going to accept Parkinson back, despite what she did, and get married soon after you both graduate?"

He sneered again. "Not hardly Granger. I will not tie myself to some boat-brained twit who can't think for herself and would like nothing more than to get her disgustingly grubby hands on my inheritance."

Hermione snickered at his lovely description of Pansy. "Alright-y chief. What's your plan then?" She was slightly giddy. She'd never have imagined Malfoy to be so…she couldn't even think of the word.

Draco looked at the bushy-haired witch before him and gave her an incredulous look. What exactly was so funny? And what the hell did she mean by alright-y chief? It had to be some muggle saying. No way anything that stupid could be anything but.

"What are your plans after graduating Granger?"

Hermione frowned. "Abrupt topic change much?" Sigh. "Despite what everyone thinks, I don't have my future planned and mapped out to precision. I'm interested in Healing, but I also love Charms and Transfiguration so I might go for Mastery in either, or possibly both, of those.

At the same time, I usually complete my year of muggle education in the summer and I'm set to graduate from high school in the fall. I've received several scholarships and offers from a variety of universities, so that's also an option I may look into.

"Beyond that, if I do decide to go for and receive Mastery, I may apply for one of the magical universities in Greece or Italy. They're very prestigious and have an amazing reputation for turning out extremely qualified workers.

I heard they just started a new program for those who have Mastery in a subject. You study for a few more years and once you graduate you can claim Wizardry in that subject; and I think there are future plans for developing a Sovereignty program, which would be a step above. Like a PhD in the muggle world.

"And they also have a Crafts program, similar to the muggle Trades system. It's where you apprentice and then apply for a Journeyman status. Except I think they call it a Craftsman instead of Journeyman. But I could be entirely wrong about that."

Draco was mystified by the witch in front of him. She had absolutely no life beyond education and furthering her knowledge. He checked himself as a thought floated across his mind. _'And knowledge is power.'_

"Speaking of abrupt topic changes, you did one so it's my turn. How did you know it was me at the Hallowe'en Ball? I've been over every action I made that night, every gesture, every word I spelled out and I can't for the life of me figure out **how** you knew it was me!"

Draco was getting whiplash from switching from one topic to another so fast. Several ideas were colliding with words, phrases, future plans from the witch in front of him with his own plots and plans and it was all wrecking wonderful havoc in his mind.

He forcefully shoved everything to the side except for her last question/rant.

"You called out to me after I was hit. I had no idea it was you until then. But you have a very distinguishable voice so I knew it was you."

Hermione sighed. "Of course. The _one_ option I didn't remember or consider is the answer. How _utterly_ typical of my brain." She rolled her eyes.

Draco shook his head. _'Merlin I need to stop thinking. My head hurts.'_ Hermione noticed his pained grimace and uttered a quick pain relieving charm.

Draco nodded in appreciation. "Back to my original point of being here. I was angry and vengeful and quite happy in my black mood and now you've gone and ruined it. And we've gotten completely off topic-"

"You're fault Malfoy, not mine."

He shot her a baleful glance and ground his teeth. "As. I. Was. _Saying_. Going back to your original plan for revenge against the Weasel and the contract we made that we'd help each other out, I now need you to be my girlfriend."

Hermione looked at him. "The entire school already thinks we're dating. What more do you want?"

"Okay, yes, the majority thinks we're a couple, but several **key** people don't believe it. And we need to make sure they do. We need to make it real. So expect to be proposed to sometime between my Coming of Age and our graduation."

--

AN: Haha! Love this chapter! Lemme know what y'all think!


	8. Chapter 8

Posted Apr. 8, 2010

"_So expect to be proposed to sometime between my Coming of Age and our graduation."_

Hermione knew that many of the Sixth and Seventh Years didn't believe they were together, and she understood the need to make it seem real. But she froze when the words 'proposed to' came from Malfoy's mouth.

"Whaaat!? Proposal? Why? We don't need to get _engaged_!! **Nobody** would believe that! Dating sure, maybe; but marriage? Never!"

Malfoy's height towered over her own even as she stood and he used that to his advantage; leaning in close, making his height even more imposing to the petite girl.

"This is what my plans consist of Granger. And wasn't it you who said '_I'm up for anything if you help me'_?"

Hermione paled at Malfoy's smirk. Those _had_ been her words. Damnit! She glared at Malfoy. "Fine. I'll accept your proposal when it comes. But we'll only keep up the charade until such a time comes when it is unnecessary. I will not actually marry you Malfoy. And when we do break it off, either we both decide on irreconcilable differences or I dump you for some random reason."

Her eyes were sparking in anger and her mouth tightened, reigning in the furious tirade that longed to pour forth.

Hermione gave Draco an extra malicious glare before thumping her books into her bag.

"You want me to be your girlfriend Malfoy, you figure everything out."

She stormed out of the library, Draco smirking at her retreating back.

A group of Fourth year Gryffindors saw Hermione storm past them, hair lifting up into treacherous waves that ancient Greeks would have mistaken as Medusa's own snakes.

Her muttered rant contained various dark words, the name Malfoy, castration, numerous pain-inflicting spells and a few choice descriptions about arrogant, pureblooded ferrets.

The Fourth Years chattered amongst themselves in their next class, Herbology with Hufflepuffs, and word about a fight between the Malfoy scion and the Muggleborn Bookworm spread, not-so-slowly and very surely.

Harry knew, the _moment_ Hermione stepped through the portrait, that he was about to be a forced listener in one of Hermione's rather infamous tirades. He wasn't disappointed.

Hermione threw herself into the plush, over-sized, red chair beside Harry, after scowling at some poor First Year to get him out of that particular spot; and went into a wild tirade that soon had her up and pacing like a caged lioness.

Harry tuned most of it out, having heard the majority of it before.

"Stupid, idiotic, brainless moron thinks he can just decide we're going to get engaged just like that! No asking, just telling, _Because I'm a Malfoy and you're a lowly muggleborn witch. You should bow before my superior breeding and talent._ Bah!! Deficient, half-baked, mindless, nonsensical, obtuse, puerile, simpleminded, thick-headed, witless excuse for bloody wizard!!"

Harry always found this to be the best part of Hermione's rants. She knew so many different words that, while essentially meaning the same thing, could lend colour and flavour to an otherwise boring insult. Though the part where she mentioned her engagement and Malfoy in the same sentence had him more than a little concerned.

Harry quickly checked around to see if anyone had heard her outburst. No one was looking their way and everyone in the common room seemed to be involved in their own activities. All in all, a very normal situation; minus the Hermione + Malfoy = engagement scenario.

"Oh, for bloody-fucking-Merlin's sake Harry! I'm not so stupid as to go on an enraged rant while fuming about something some idiotic prick said, without first throwing up a silencing ward. Give me a little credit please!"

Harry was shocked at the swears coming out of Hermione's mouth. She ignored him and fell back into the chair, adrenaline from her diatribe wearing off. Flopping an arm across her eyes she sighed. She had no illusions about the conversation she knew was coming. And coming it was, at full speed ahead, ready to bowel her over at a moment's notice.

Throwing up as many silencing and privacy wards as they knew (combined), Hermione conjured two large mugs of hot chocolate and settled in for a long, long talk with Harry.

Several hours later, the common room clear of everyone, Harry knew the full story of what had been going on since the summer before their final year at Hogwarts.

"Can't you do anything to get out this Hermione? I mean, you just said those words to get his help right?"

"They were just words to get help. But later on we signed a binding contract. And he did help me with my situation, so it's not like I didn't walk into this with both eyes open. But now that you know, I'm going to have to invoke a Vow of Silence from you. We can't have this getting out in any way."

Harry agreed and performed the requested vow. When the magic settled again, Harry asked a question that had been tugging at his mind since the beginning of the conversation.

"Hermione, those plans you devised, for Ron and Hallowe'en and everything else, they're ridiculously thought out and planned so well that you had back up plans for every sort of incongruity. It's incredible!! I'm curious as to you came up with the ideas and…and …everything really!"

Hermione 'hmmed' while sipping her hot chocolate.

"I suppose I thought of what I wanted, and how I might go about getting it. Then I factored in Ron and his reactions, which I know extremely well after living in close quarters with him for nigh on seven years.

And each time I had a plan, I would go through it piece by piece as an opponent to find cracks in my logic. Each crack I found, I created a back up plan that would counteract such a leak. It really isn't as hard as it seems, though it is highly time-consuming."

"I realize this is slightly odd, but during your Sorting, what did the Hat tell you?"

Hermione gave a mocking smirk, "It actually told me I would be fine in Ravenclaw, though I might find them a tad dull. I would be bored to tears in Hufflepuff; and if I could get past the pureblood racism, I would have done extremely well in Slytherin. I think that was more for my ambitious plans than anything else. But I'd had an incident with Malfoy on the train and heard he'd be in Slytherin, so I opted for Gryffindor. Why?"

Harry returned her smirk, "The Hat told me I could be great in Slytherin as well. I'm guessing that had a little to do with Voldemort, but more for my thirst to prove myself."

Their smirk turned to grins. "Imagine what Ron would say if he knew all this?" They shared a good laugh and continued to talk about random topics throughout the night.

Sunday morning, not quite bright and early, Draco Malfoy received a letter, carried by a school owl.

If you want to make your relationship seem realistic, take Hermione out flying sometime in the future. No one's been able to get her on a broom since our lesson in First Year (where she didn't even get on a broom because of Neville's accident), and she never went with Ron or me. Hermione told me everything. She needed to unload; and I've taken a Vow of Silence. So let go of your breath.

P.

Draco _had_ sucked in a small breath when he read Hermione had told someone everything. He scowled at the chicken-scratch as he breathed out. _Stupid Potter._

When lunch came around, Hermione was sitting munching on a veggie sandwich when a single, beautiful, brindled gold eagle hawk swooped down with a bouquet of pink, yellow and orange roses. Small white rose buds were peppered throughout.

Everyone had noticed, it was the only bird delivering something that meal. A small card was stuck to the centre-most rose bud.

Sorry

Hermione smiled. Not looking across the room to find him, but knowing he'd be watching, she nodded her head.

Over the next three weeks, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were almost always seen with each other. Between classes, more Head duties with the Christmas season coming upon them; finishing their potions project; and of course making sure to be seen together as much as possible.

Their relationship had to be a natural thing. One that when it came out in public, everyone cheered while muttering _'Finally!'_

Dumbledore had told them there was to be a ball on the final day off classes before Christmas Break started and everyone went home.

Hermione had just finished her breakfast and stood up when Malfoy waltz over to the Gryffindor table.

"If you have time later today, I'd like to go down to Hogsmeade with you to get some things for our Head project. I'm not sure how long we'll be there, but we'll probably be there for lunch and maybe dinner as well. The Headmaster has already given me the passes, so if you can meet me in the Front Hall in two hours it would be greatly appreciated."

Lavender and Pavarti squealed as Malfoy walked away.

"Ohmigosh!! Hermione!!! You're going on a date with Draco Malfoy!!"

"It's not a date Lavender, we're getting some things for the Christmas Ball as Heads, that's all."

Pavarti threw her two cents in. "Maybe so, but it's not a Hogsmeade weekend thing, so no other students will be around…" She waggled her eyebrows. "_And_ he basically asked you out for lunch and supper!"

"Oh Hermione, you _have_ to let us help you get ready!! PLEASE!!!!" Lavender was practically on her knees begging. Pavarti joined her. Chuckles of laughter were soon echoing up and down the tables. Hermione, in an effort to contain this ridiculous situation agreed.

"Okay, fine! Just stop it, will you? And nothing drastic!" She was promptly hauled off the bench and rushed to Gryffindor Tower before she could finish her sentence. Harry began laughing so hard he started crying. Ginny and Neville joined him, though they didn't cry.

"Okay, Pav, put her on the bed." Lavender was rummaging through her trunk for her monthly issues of Beauty Witch. She kept all the old issues in a special box that had _feather-weight_ and _bottomless_ charms.

Finally she stood with close to fifteen magazines in her arms and dumped them on the bed beside the Head Girl.

"Okay, what style were you going after for today?"

Hermione looked at her. "I wasn't going after any style. I was just going to wear some of my normal clothes and leave my hair down. You guys are the ones going after style."

Lavender grinned at her partner in crime. "Too true!" They chimed. Immediately they began flipping through the magazines, discussing hair styles, looks, clothing fashions and make-up.

For the next hour, Hermione was an unwilling model as the two fashionistas tried different styles of up-do's and curls; ponytails, braids, and everything in between. Pavarti was picking through her own closet, as well and Lav's, to find some nice semi-casual clothes that would be comfortable and still look great on their 'model'.

Finally, when Hermione had five minutes to meet Draco in the Front Hall, Lavender and Pavarti let her go.

Her hair had been subject to several spells, which got rid of the bushiness; added a bit of shine and gloss; turned her gentle waves into slightly more curled strands and placed into a ponytail. And then taken out and roughed up into a sexy, loose bun, with a few pieces falling out here and there.

Hermione was worried that the entire structure would just collapse and fall apart at some point in the day. Lavender assured her it would not. She had soft golds and gentle browns for her make-up, really just a light brush across her eyelids. Wood brown eyeliner and black-brown mascara completed her eyes.

She was given a peach gloss that would accompany the delicate brush of blush on her cheeks and lend freshness to her face.

Pavarti had chosen a pair of dark blue skinny jeans that were molded to Hermione's legs, and placed in matte black, knee-high, heeled, leather boots. She had wanted to put Hermione in a halter top, but Hermione had flat-out refused because of the weather, so Lavender pulled out one of her turtlenecks.

It was a smooth cream colour and was such a soft wool that Hermione had mistaken it for cashmere at first.

As a final touch, a gold scarf with touches of honey-brown mixed in was tied around her neck in a fashionable way. Gold hoop earrings accompanied the outfit.

Many students had gotten together to line the hallways from Gryffindor tower to the Front Hall and Hermione was more than a little nervous as she ran down the line to meet Malfoy on time.

Her dark brown winter jacket was a slim, form-fitting jacket that went to mid-thigh and fit her figure wonderfully, though it was currently undone as the castle was still warm. A warm, light brown shoulder bag finished the entire thing.

Draco heard the running footsteps behind him and had half a mind to reprimand her for being late. She wasn't really. She was exactly on time, but he knew that she was usually early for appointments, or meetings, or class; or everything really. He huffed and turned around.

And promptly sucked in a breath at the vision that was running toward him. Her skin was glowing with a freshness that most attempt to achieve in spring, but came to her naturally.

The colours of her outfit mixed very well with one another and she had little ornamentation, which was a god-send. He had hated it, and still did, when Pansy had gotten dressed and put on all her jewellery, which would jangle and clash as she walked around.

The run had left Hermione's cheeks rosy, and she greeted him with an apology for being late, her words punctuated with slight gasps.

He offered her his arm, and with an amused glance she took it and they walked out the door together.

Alrighty guys, PLEASE tell me your thoughts on Hermione's rant and her interaction with Harry!!

AM


	9. Chapter 9

Posted May 4, 2010

I would like to apologize for my rant in the previous chapter. I had no viable reason to lend that on my readers, and I made false accusations (the note was on my profile, not a previously posted chapter). Anyway, hope you like! -AM

_He offered her his arm, and with an amused glance she took it and they walked out the door together._

They spent the day looking at ornaments for the castle, things one couldn't easily conjure, food ideas for the buffet, swatches of fabric to decorate the hall with, and of course, present shopping.

It really was the best time to do it, Malfoy argued, because there were no other students around to see and pester you and take all the items you wanted before you got there.

Hermione snickered, but agreed. Thankfully she had thought ahead and had forced the girls into to letting her get some things from her room before they held her prisoner for over an hour.

She found a miniature quidditch player that could fly around with a quaffle for Ron, and even got it custom charmed to be the bright orange uniform of the Chudley Canons. A magic journal that had a never ending amount of pages, and an illusion charm etched into the cover so it could look like anything the owner wished, was bought for Ginny.

Harry was to receive a silver arm band (that would enlarge to be placed on the bicep and then shrink to fit) in the form of a snake with obsidian eyes; a private joke between the two of them. Neville got a book titled, _Rare Fungi and Where to Find Them; Without Dying in the Process_.

For her mother, Hermione bough a few small pieces of magical jewellery that had various enchantments and protection spells inlaid in the metal. Her father received a few quills, some were self inking and in various colours; one was specially designed to turn out calligraphy, no matter how anything was written; and the final one was a beautiful, charcoal-black feather.

The description didn't say what animal it was from; the crafter had found it lying on a path one day. It was a long feather, completely smooth, with no little pieces sticking out. It had an elegance and grace that Hermione had only seen in pictures that were touched up and made to look perfect; in other words completely fake. But this was the real thing.

Now for Draco…She honestly had no idea what to get the stupid git. He had tons of money and probably could, and did, buy anything he wanted. But she did have to find him something, for appearance's sake as his girlfriend, but also because she _wanted_ to get him something.

Hermione was unsure of her reasons as to why she wanted to get him something but decided to ignore that in favor of looking for a present for him.

She looked at potions ingredients, books, quidditch memorabilia, male jewellery, fine quills, clothing, accessories, and found absolutely nothing that would be suitable as a gift. She even looked at hair gel she was so desperate! It was at that point that she paused and proceeded to smack herself in hopes of regaining her sense.

Unfortunately for her, Malfoy happened by at that exact moment.

"What, may I ask, are you doing…?" Hermione whirled around, a deer-in-the-headlight look freezing her body.

Malfoy's sterling eyes danced in amusement, he fought to keep the grin off his face.

Hermione blushed. "I just…I was…ugh." She planted her face in her hands, sighed and then dropped her hands in her coat pockets.

"I was looking for a present for you and couldn't find anything and got desperate enough to look at hair gel. And then when I realized what I was doing I smacked myself in hopes that I would regain my normal level of sense."

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, daring him to laugh at her.

He dared. He let out a strained chuckle which, very shortly, gave way to a full blown laugh. Hermione's arms fell away to her sides. She'd never heard the Malfoy heir laugh the way he was now.

She'd heard dark chuckles and mocking laughter; but nothing quite so free-sounding as this. A soft smile curved her lips and Draco looked up from his laughter to see it.

"And what are you smiling about?" A grin on his own lips.

Her smile widened. "I've never heard you laugh like that before. It was nice." Draco was startled and wrinkled his nose in embarrassment.

"Yes…well… don't go expecting me suddenly become your best friend or anything Granger."

Her eye narrowed playfully. "Oh I wouldn't dream of that! One can hardly expect to be friends with their husband hmm?" Her voice trailed off. Draco looked at her in mild shock. This petite witch in front of him, was _continually_ throwing him off balance, without even _trying_!

Hermione threw him a smirk and turned on her heel to make her way to a small cafe down the street for a late lunch.

Draco strolled after her, strolled because _Malfoys_ did **not** run after people, once he realized she was gone from the immediate vicinity; and found her seated at a cozy little table in an out-of-the-way corner.

He gently pulled her out of her seat, wrapped her arm around his and led her to a nice restaurant.

"They have some food that I want you to try." Was his explanation. Hermione rolled her eyes and acquiesced, knowing she wouldn't win this one.

They were seated in a dimmed, corner booth of dark red leather and mahogany wood. Menus were placed in front of them and cool spring water filled crystal-cut glasses.

Hermione sat down and browsed through the menu, oblivious to the covert glances the wizard across from her was sending. When the waiter came to take their order, Malfoy ordered for both of them.

"We'll have two glasses of Manzanilla, your couples' Italian cheese platter, and finally, we'd like the braised venison with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables."

The waiter nodded as he scribbled it all down, took their menus and left the couple to themselves.

Hermione's eyebrows disappeared into side-parted bangs. "When you said you wanted me to try the food here, I was expecting to order my own food. By myself. "

Draco sipped his water. "I'm sure you did, but I didn't want you to order something simple and inexpensive. I'm paying for this meal, and you will eat something you never would have chosen otherwise."

"I do have money you know. I can pay for myself."

"Hermione, you're my girlfriend, I'm your boyfriend. This is what boyfriends do, we buy the girl we like little trinkets; pay her way at the cinema, and _yes_ I know what the cinema is; buy her jewellery for no reason other than to enhance her natural beauty. And we pay for meals. Get over it."

Hermione was beginning to understand why so many of her year-mates, and even several younger ones, fell for the shining Slytherin Prince. He wasn't nearly as Dark as everyone thought.

She sipped her water. "Fine."

"Glad to hear you're finally learning your limits with me." Though she didn't see it, as she was avoiding his eyes; she could _hear_ the smirk in his voice.

"I don't have limits when it comes to you Malfoy, but I know I can't fight you every step of the way either. There are some things you won't budge on. I imagine the way this is one of them."

Sigh. "You can't keep calling me Malfoy, _Hermione_. We're dating. Dating couples do not call each other by their last name."

"You know, I had a conversation exactly like this, almost 3 months ago."

"Really? With whom?" He wasn't interested. She could tell by his drawl.

"Myself, actually." Draco snickered quietly. Hermione sent him a mocking glare.

"Wow Granger! I thought you were mental before, but this proves it!"

"Now, now, _Draco_! You shouldn't make fun of your _girlfriend_, or she might spread nasty rumors about your skills in the sack."

She smiled into her drink at the stunned expression on Malf-_ 'No, we've been through this before. It's __**Draco**__. Again.'_

They passed idle small talk until the waiter arrived with their food and drink. Once their sherry was poured and the waiter had left, they toasted to their relationship and the beginning of a great success to piss off certain people.

They spent the rest of the day wandering around the magical town filling out orders for materials and having them shipped up to Hogwarts once they came in.

Hermione still hadn't found anything to get Draco for Christmas and considered writing to Mrs. Malfoy for a hint. She quickly dismissed that thought as idiocy. Firstly, she might not even know about them being a couple and secondly, what kind of impression would it give Lady Malfoy if she couldn't even come up with a decent present on her own!

For dinner, instead of going to the same restaurant they'd been at for lunch, Hermione choose where they would dine.

Draco looked around him at the limited choices in Hogsmeade. Really, there weren't many places unless they wanted to drink alcohol for their supper. The café had closed and the only real restaurant was the one he'd taken her to for lunch.

He was, quite literally, pulled from his musings. Hermione had grabbed his arm and was dragging him to The Three Broomsticks. She threw down the 3 knuts for floo powder and stopped in front of the fireplace.

"The Leaky Cauldron!" And in they went, Draco's arms wrapped around Hermione's body to keep them together in the labyrinthine floo system. He led her gracefully out the other end into Tom's pub. Many witches and wizards stared incredulously at the pair as Hermione grabbed his hand and led him outside.

"Taxi!" No one stopped. Draco let out a piercing whistle. A black-topped Austin cab pulled up in front of them.

Draco held the door open for her and Hermione got in. "Kensington Gardens please!"

Draco asked her why they were going to Kensington Gardens. Hermione told him it was her favorite place to eat with her family.

"So you're taking me there, why? Won't I _taint_ the memories of you being there with your parents?'

"First of all, Draco, you need to stop depreciating yourself like that. You did it at Hallowe'en too. Secondly, we're going to be engaged. I think that's close enough to family, don't you?"

Draco was a little shocked at how accepting she was of his planned proposal. Especially considering her reaction he first told her. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice when Hermione opened her purse to pay the cab driver.

The cabbie gave him a dirty look. "C'mon man! Yer the guy! Yer s'posed to pay f'r stuff! Not th's pretty li'l lady on yer arm!"

Hermione intervened before things got too ugly. "Actually it's my turn to pay. He bought me lunch and it's only fair that I return the favour. But we're running late and our reservation is almost up Darling!"

Draco was out of the cab, across the street and through the restaurant doors before he could protest.

"I wasn't aware we had reservations."

"We don't." She smiled at him. "But you don't have any muggle money and I didn't want things to get out of hand."

They were quickly seated and given water until their waitress came. This time around, Hermione ordered for them.

"We would like a half-order of the Seafood Mélange with scallops, conch and shrimp; a serving of lemon hummus and pita; and wild goat with olive oil and your House Blend of herbs."

"And to drink?"

Draco spoke up before Hermione could open her mouth, "We'll have two glasses of Chianti Trebbiano."

The waitress nodded and walked off to place their order.

"Okay Draco, what did you do?" Draco did his best to look innocent, and succeeded quite well because for once he actually was.

"What are you accusing me of now? I haven't done anything."

"She didn't even _try_ to ID us. And I know for a fact that I do not look like I'm over the age of 21."

"With the exception of today, I would normally agree with you. But as it so happens, you look very sophisticated tonight; and I daresay many people will mistake us for an older couple instead of the teenagers we are."

Hermione blushed in the delicate light and ducked her head a bit. "Oh. Well, you look pretty good yourself Malfoy."

The wizard tsk-ed and gave her a look.

"Draco. Sorry."

To make the wait more interesting, Hermione asked Draco what his plans for the future where.

"Well, first I have to assume Headship of my family. After that I really don't need to do anything aside from my familial duties; though I'm quite sure that I will be impossibly _bored_ with that lifestyle within the first two months. But I suppose I actually _do _need an answer if people ask me."

"Why do you 'suppose' you need an answer?"

"Well _Dear_, if we announce our engagement, and the wizarding world, via media, asks us what our plans for the future are, it would make me look very stupid if you have all those well-thought out, lofty ideas of yours and I have absolutely nothing."

"Yes it would, I suppose. Though we could tell them it's a role-reversed marriage. The wife is the bread-maker while the husband stays home looking after the children."

Draco looked at her. "I don't think so, _Dear_."

Hermione was enjoying herself, throwing barbs at Draco and having a similar wit returned. It was nothing like hanging out with Ron and Harry. Harry, she knew, could probably keep up in conversations with her, but he was almost always with Ron and Ron couldn't keep up if his life depended on it.

"But, I've always enjoyed the history of language and spells, how they are created, used, translated and thus, evolve. Ancient Runes is also interesting, but not enough to make me want to make a career out of it.

"I'm also a fan of architecture and buildings. I'd love to study that; go down to Italy and stay for a few years learning methods of ancient construction and architecture, taking pictures of the buildings, studying the history that colours the entire country."

His voice was filled with childish wonder and excitement, his eyes clouded with longing. Hermione had never, and she doubted anyone really ever had, known about Draco's passions. She smiled as she watched him, seeing a new side to him; the one he kept hidden from the world.

"My mother used to show me these huge volumes of historical buildings and pictures of centuries-old paintings; I loved it. It's one of the few things I can appreciate about muggles. It was also one of the few times my mother would smile with restraint. Around my father she was always cold and distant, much like my father himself.

But when he away on Death Eater business, she would smile more and wear brighter more cheerful clothes than black and other dark colors."

His eyes held memories long cherished and veiled behind a mask that would brook no weakness. Hermione reached out to take his hand.

Plates of food were set down on the table and the moment was broken. Draco guarded his eyes once again and Hermione quickly snatched her hand back before it reached its destination. She didn't want any awkward questions.

They ate quietly through the meal, each lost in their own thoughts. Hermione paid for the meal with her bank card and they walked the, relatively, short distance to the Leaky Cauldron. Draco paid for the floo fee this time and they made their way back to Madam Rosmerta's.

There was a slight chill in the silent winter night as they made they walked back to Hogwarts. It was almost time for Sunday curfew, but they decided to stop by the lake anyway.

The moon was almost full and its silvery light fell on the rippling water. The haunting song of the mermaids could be faintly heard and the occasional splash from the giant squid filled the silence.

Together they walked back through the snow to the entrance and walked to their tower. Once they were inside and heading to their separate rooms, Hermione turned around.

"Draco?" He turned to look at her and Hermione worried her hands. "I just wanted to say that, I had a really great time with you today. It was a lot of fun. Thank you." She graced him with a demure smile and crossed the floor to her room.

Hermione was not expecting the hand that stilled hers from opening the door. Draco turned her around and tenderly placed an arm around her back. The other hand tilted her chin so he could look into her eyes.

"And I as well. When you first proposed this plan of yours back in September, I didn't think we could do it. Now I think maybe we can. The only woman I'm able to have an converse intelligently with, prior to you, is my mother.

You're a beautiful, talented witch and I'm quite sure that you're going to crazy no matter how hard I try to resist or deny it."

And then he kissed her. It wasn't a chaste kiss by any means, but it wasn't lustful either. In fact, Hermione couldn't tell _what_ kind of a kiss it was and finally decided to give up trying and enjoy it while it lasted.

Draco pulled back and traced a pale finger down her smooth cheek. Hermione's eyes closed at the sensation. A soft, lingering kiss was felt on her cheek and then he was gone. She kept her eyes closed until the muffled click of a door being shut was heard; and then she blindly opened her door and walked in.

As Hermione got ready for bed, brushing her hair and teeth, wiping the make-up off and changing into her pajamas, the only thing on her mind was the kiss she'd shared with Draco. And what it meant for their individual futures and the one that they, for the moment, shared.


	10. Chapter 10

Updated: Aug 12, 2010 8:00 am

Sorry for the incredibly long wait everyone! I know I said I'd try to update once a month and I more than kinda failed in that. All I can say is that life got kinda busy. Not the greatest excuse, but it is the truth and I imagine you can all relate in some fashion.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter (been so long, I don't even remember what happens here...urgh..should rectify that...). Ciao guys! (and girls)

AM

_As Hermione got ready for bed, brushing her hair and teeth, wiping the make-up off and changing into her pajamas, the only thing on her mind was the kiss she'd shared with Draco. And what it meant for their individual futures and the one the, for the moment shared. _

Monday was full of classes, meals, homework and planning. Tuesday was much the same. Wednesday on the other hand, turned into a very interesting day.

It was a normal morning that followed a normal breakfast. Lunch however, was when things got started. It began relatively normal, nothing out of ordinary. Everyone was chatting with their friends, eating food, complaining about homework; all very natural in a school setting.

It was interrupted by the very loud slamming of a book and an exclamation of "Absolutely not!" from the Gryffindor table. All heads, including those at the Head table, turned to see what was happening.

Hermione briefly looked up, saw the entire school's eyes on her and promptly blushed a deep scarlet. Giving a meek apology, she ducked her head and began eating.

When everyone's eyes had turned away, she took a ballpoint pen from her bag and scribbled a very large, underlined and emphatic 'NO' under the question and closed her notebook.

The afternoon continued in a similar manner. Draco would send her a question through the notebook; scribbling on her notes; spelling it in charms class.

In Transfiguration, when they were working on living-to-inanimate transfiguration, he managed to get the entire class to transfigure their rodents into a letter and then re-arranged everyone so it spelled out the question.

Hermione gave him a blank stare, turned to Professor McGonagall, and asked if she could go to the Hospital Wing. McGonagall nodded and as soon as the Head Girl had left the classroom and was no longer in the vicinity to see it, her craggy face broke into a small grin.

She spent the rest of the day avoiding Draco, Madame Pomfrey had graciously offered to keep everyone away, by talking to the Medi-witch about being a Healer and getting some more information on needed classes and formal training. But dinner eventually came and Hermione had to leave her sanctuary in the Hospital Wing.

Looking the other way, so as not to meet Draco's gaze, she hurried over to Gryffindor table. Unfortunately for the Head Girl, because she _was_ looking the other way, she didn't see a certain blonde Slytherin coming up on her blind side.

The entire hall paused to see what would happen and Draco had a fleeting thought that the entire school body, professors included, obviously had no life if they were _that_ interested in himself and Hermione.

As he bent down on one knee, the females in the hall gasped; Hermione paled to a sickly white.

'_Probably thinks I'm going to propose.' _He snickered to himself. Out loud though, he put on a serene smile, took Hermione's hand and looked into her eyes.

Hermione looked at Draco. She did not want to be here. She paled when he went down on one knee. _'What the hell is he doing! He said between his Coming of Age and graduation! Meaning sometime after JANUARY! It's still the beginning of DECEMBER!'_

He took her hand. Hermione mentally cursed him a thousand different ways and then some. Looking into her eyes he smiled. Hermione saw a smirk.

And in a voice loud enough for the entire hall to hear, he asked, "Hermione Jane Granger. Will you go flying with me?"

"I don't think so _dear_. I like my feet stuck on terra firma thank you very much!" Was the impossibly prompt reply.

A few disappointed groans were heard, several laughs were thrown in and Hermione resolved to kill her best friend when he stood up and started chanting her name. Neville, surprisingly, was the next to join in and Ginny stood up not a minute later to accompany the chant.

Shortly after, the entire Gryffindor table was standing on the seating benches chanting her name. Hermione slapped her face with her available hand and groaned. She pulled her other hand out of Dra-Malfoy's grasp to cover her entire face when the chanting spread to the other three tables.

A barely heard 'fine' made its way through Hermione's hands. Draco grinned.

"Sorry, did you say something Darling?" Hermione's hands lowered and she gave him the fiercest glare she could. Which was actually quite fierce and Draco was glad that he had the entire school was behind him at the moment.

"You heard me perfectly fine the first time Malfoy. I will **not** repeat myself." Her voice was barely heard through tightly-clamped teeth; her hands, longing to throttle the neck in front of them, were clenched into fists.

Draco threw an arm back towards the tables. The chanting stopped. Draco almost turned around in surprise; he was not expecting that to actually work. In all actuality Dumbledore had cast a mass silencing charm on the students and then took it off when they quieted down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. The crowd was really loud. Can you say it once more?" Draco was mocking her and he knew that she knew it. A grin was replaced with a full blown smile; he was absolutely _loving_ this! It was hilarious to watch, and even better to participate in!

If possible, Hermione's glare got even fiercer and Draco knew that he would be paying for this someway, somehow. But right now, he was having too much fun to care.

"I said, fine." She was practically growling at him.

"Sorry, fine? Fine what? Fine weather? Why yes, considering the season, it is very fine." He smirked; he could hear some students chortling, trying not be caught by the enraged witch they were watching.

Hermione actually had the audacity to growl at him! He hurriedly looked at her nails, suddenly worried they would turn into claws and dismember him in a most painful way.

"I said, fine, I'll go flying with you, you stupid, idiotic, airheaded, illiterate, empty-headed, inane, mentally-deficient, pointless, senseless, useless, contemptible, asinine, feather-brained, frivolous, ignorant, uneducated, rump-fed, pox-marred, dog-humping twat!"

Thunder was in her face and silence filled the Great Hall. No one, with the exception of Harry and maybe Ginny, had ever heard Hermione say such things. McGonagall was staring aghast at her favorite pupil. Flitwick, had anyone bothered to look, seemed to be having convulsions trying to stifle his laughter.

Draco himself was frozen in shock. She had such a dirty mouth! Well, not really, she hadn't sworn or anything, but there were some graphic insults there. He looked at her in puzzlement,

"Did you just use Shakespearean insults on me?" Hermione had the decency to blush, though she didn't avert her eyes. It was Harry, again, who got things going by laughing so hard he fell off the bench he was standing on. In turn, people laughed at him and soon everyone (with maybe Snape as the exception) was crying tears of laughter.

Hermione, still bright, fuchsia red, grabbed Malfoy's hand, yanked him onto his feet and dragged him out of the hall. When she turned right to go up to their tower, Draco stopped and let her lurch as she tried to keep moving.

"What are you doing?" Judging by the way she hissed the words, she was still angry at him.

"The quidditch pitch is in the other direction."

She sneered at him. "Yes well even if I _did _agree to go flying, I certainly didn't mean _tonight._ And _if_ by some miracle you got me down to the pitch, you'd still need your broom to fly and _that_ is in your room; in the direction which_ I_ was headed."

Draco tossed her a smirk, whipped his wand out and flung out a series of Latin and Greek spells. And before Hermione could do anything, he turned and walked in the direction opposite hers. She stood firm, not willing to submit to the pale-haired ponce walking away from her, and stumbled when a sudden jerk pulled her off her feet.

Draco mentally gloated when he felt the pull. He'd placed a handcuff charm on the two of them, to force her to follow him, but had combined it with a spacing hex. Such a hex was used to force people to stay within a specific range. In this situation, it meant that Hermione had a certain limit of space that would be allowed between them before the magic handcuffs pulled her along.

Like putting a circle of some material over two animals; one will move and the second will sit still until the opposite end of the circle pushes them in the direction of the first.

He grinned. "I love magic." He heard angry footsteps coming up behind him. Undoubtedly his 'girlfriend' had found out that he'd also thrown a silencer into the mix and she could no longer speak her viperish opinions.

Hermione threw a slew of insults at the disappearing back only to hear nothing coming from her mouth. Glaring even harder she stormed after the Malfoy, intent on causing physical harm.

Unfortunately for her, the muscles on his body weren't just for show. He dodged her arm like one would a bludger, and the twirled to capture her hands in his. Hermione bared her teeth and moved to bite the hands that were holding her captive.

"Granger, you stupid cow! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She mouthed angry words at him. "Oh right. Silencing spell. Okay, if I let go of your hands to get my wand and undo the spell, do you promise not to attack me in any way?"

Hermione huffed but nodded. Draco slowly let go of her hands. When she didn't move to attack him, he reached into his pocket for his wand. Hermione leapt at him while his one hand was indisposed.

She wasn't sure what her aim was, but she knew she wanted to hurt the insufferable git who was constantly humiliating her and had done so for the past seven years. Her mind began playing the memories of the day she'd spent with him just three days prior. She ruthlessly shoved it aside.

Draco was surprised by her sudden attack and his hand was trapped in his pocket as he unsuccessfully tried to yank it out to fend off the crazy witch.

Stumbling back from the onslaught he tripped over his robes and fell backwards, Hermione with him. Draco forced himself not to switch positions so she hit the ground, though she certainly deserved it, and let the angry woman fall on top of him.

Though as soon as he hit the ground, he rolled over and pinned her down. Hermione's arms were pinned against the stone floor by her head, hair spreading around her head and her face was flushed from anger and the fight.

Draco was straddling her body, knees pinned against her thighs to keep her from kicking something of his that was very sensitive.

"What in the nine levels of hell is wrong with you woman?"

She was struggling in his grasp, trying to break free. His hold stayed firm against her.

"**You** are 'what's wrong' Malfoy! You're constantly humiliating me! In any way you can! Oh you pretend to be nice, but then you go and do something like this and I hate it!"

In her mind, Hermione knew that he hadn't really bothered her in that last year and a half. And really, the only time he did make fun of her was when she was with Ron or Harry. But in her anger, she didn't care

There were delicate tears pooling in her eyes. Draco eased his grip on her and looked at the witch beneath him. Sighing, he pulled her up and into his arms. He leaned against the wall, his arms wrapped around her petite frame.

Draco cast a disillusion charm and placed a silencing ward around them so no one would see or hear their conversation.

It was one of the very few times he had ever seen Hermione in such a vulnerable state. The first was in their Second Year when her teeth were hit with the enlargement charm.

"Listen Grang- Hermione," His voice was low and apologetic. "I know you hate me, and I realize this can't be easy for you. And I want you to know that I really do appreciate you helping me out. I know I kind of blackmailed you into this and I know I can be a right bastard sometimes. Well, okay, a lot of the time. But I really…"

He paused. This was actually _really_ hard for him. "I am…distressed…for causing you pain…of sorts. And this is an…offer of amends… for the future as well. Because I know that I will forget about your feelings at some point and only think of the end goal. And I'm quite sure I'll end up hurting you somehow…

"I don't really know how to apologize Hermione. It's not something I ever really learned. I was either right, or I had more power and thus it didn't matter if I was wrong. And I don't always know when to stop either. I know I'll take things too far sometimes because I don't know…I just…. I just don't."

Draco sighed and wiped a hand across his face. He felt a slight nod against his chest and the mélange of smugness, anger, and guilt was swallowed by a soft feeling that covered his chest.

"And I know you're going to hate me for this, but we really do have to go flying now… The entire school thinks we're going to, and we can't not without them finding out about our contract…"

His voice trailed off unsure of the reaction from the witch cradled in his arms. The warmth he hadn't known he was enjoying was suddenly gone. Hermione had pushed herself away from him. She used her robe sleeve to wipe her eyes and muttered a few charms so people wouldn't be able to tell she'd been crying.

Draco just stared at her as she walked down the hall, away from him.

"Well, come on then. We need to go put on a show n'est-ce pas?" The grin she wore was still slightly shaky, but it was enough to let him know that she was going to be okay.

"Mais oui, mademoiselle!" He stood and offered her his arm.

The moon was shining brightly and there were no clouds were to be seen as far off as the horizon. The field was covered in layers of thick, fluffy snowflakes and glittered like powdered diamonds under the moonlight.

Draco offered her the option of a school broom or his personal one. Hermione asked what the difference was.

"Well school brooms are more for teaching children how to control a broom and learn to fly. Mine is more of a performance broom."

Hermione looked at him. "Sort of like how you would start a young rider on an older, more experienced horse as opposed to a green horse."

Draco nodded. "Exactly like that. Though some people debilitate on whether the school brooms are really safe for flying. I mean, they'll do fine for just hovering, like you do in your first lesson, but going any higher… I don't actually know how well, they would hold up…"

Hermione's eyes widened in alarm and she quickly voiced that his broom would be fine. Draco smirked and _accio_-ed his broom to the pitch.

When it arrived, he straddled the broom as it hovered and turned to Hermione.

"Okay, you can either sit behind me or sit in front of me. It's your choice."

"How am I supposed to hold on if I sit in front of you?" There was only the slightest hint of hysteria in her voice.

"Well, if you face forward, you could hold onto the broom and my arms would be guard-rails of sorts as I also need to hold onto the broom. No offense but I don't exactly trust you to control the broom when you are highly distressed.

"Or you could face me and wrap your arms around my middle. Though our legs might get entangled that way…which might have adverse and unplanned effects…But it's your choice really."

"I'll sit behind you…if that's okay." Draco nodded. "Well come one then."

Hermione nervously walked up to the floating broom and swung a leg over. Hauling herself onto the stick, she immediately wrapped her arms around his middle.

Draco wheezed. "Not so tight Granger!" Her grip loosened minutely. A muffled "Sorry." Was said into his back. He rolled his eyes and took off.

Judging by the shriek that filled his ears, Draco decided he took off too fast and slowed their ascent.

He leveled off far too quickly for his liking, and far too late for Hermione's liking. Knowing that Hermione's eyes were still shut tight, Draco flew a few lazy laps around the pitch before crossing the skies, flying over the highest turrets and arrived at the lake.

The water near the edge was shallow enough to freeze into ice. It was too cold for the giant squid to splash around as it had the night they'd collected liquid moonbeams, but the occasional ripple from his movements were still visible.

"Hermione, open your eyes."

"Absolutely not! I agreed to go flying with you but no one said I had to look, and I certainly don't plan to! We just agreed to go flying. Flying is defined by the passage through air. We could have done a loop around the pitch six feet above the ground! I still would have been flying!"

She was verging on hysterical once again. Draco sighed. "I hardly think that counts as flying Granger. When the Wright brothers were trying to build the aero-plane I highly doubt that a bounce that took them up six feet and forward three would count as flying."

Hermione had no comeback to that. Draco smiled at his victory and got a delicious idea.

"Hermione, I'm going to move forward and you need to come with me okay?"

"Why are you moving forward!"

"Because I'm going to drop off the broom, swing around and land behind you."

"Whaat! No! You can't do that! What if you fall! What if **I** fall!"

Draco ignored her protests and moved forward, pulling her along as he moved. Holding the broom in place with his legs, he pried Hermione's arms from his stomach and lurched forward.

Hermione felt her arms being pulled and held on tighter. It didn't make a difference in the face of his strength. When only his arms were holding hers, he shifted forward and Hermione had no option other than to grope blindly for the broom handle.

She didn't want to open her eyes and be scared of the dangerous height they were at. Commons sense told her that it was more dangerous to keep her eyes closed as she might lean too far off balance and fall from the broom.

But before she could imagine the last situation through, her hands caught hold on the smooth wood and she held on for dear life.

Draco grinned as she groped for the handle, sheer panic evident on her face. Holding onto the broom with one hand, he flung himself off and used his stomach muscles to help swing his legs back around to land behind the terrified witch.

Hermione felt the sudden weight-loss on the broom and almost shrieked until a weight swung underneath, up and landed behind her. Two strong arms were around her own, keeping her safe. She let out the breath she'd been holding.

A voice breathed into her ear. "Satisfied that I know what I'm doing?"

Hermione shivered at the warmth by her ear. "I should kill you for doing that. You scared me! I thought you fell!"

He chuckled and it wrecked havoc on Hermione's senses. She was going crazy. She wasn't even yelling at him like he deserved. His voice in her ear was making her blood rush through her body and her heart was pounding so loud she was sure he could hear it; he was that close.

"Worried for my safety Granger? And here I thought you didn't care."

Hermione focused her attention on the broom beneath her hands and schooled her voice to be even and indifferent.

"I don't care Malfoy. I just don't want to be blamed if you died; which you would, if you fell from this height."

Draco drew back a bit. Her voice may be indifferent but he knew that she did care, in some small, most likely microscopic, way.

They floated there until the wind blew her hair away and he leaned forward again and pressed a soft kiss to her bare neck.

Hermione's eyes flew open in shock when she felt warm lips on her neck. About to reprimand him, her voice caught as she looked out at the view before her. An excited gasp slipped past her lips and Draco smirked against her neck.

His murmur reached her ears, despite the lowered decibel.

"Finally opened your eyes, huh?"

Hermione turned around to look at him, moonlight glinting off her hair as the wind danced it about.

"It's beautiful up here! Absolutely incredible! I've never seen anything like it. Ever! I've flown in planes before, but that's way up in the clouds. You never see things like this!"

Her smile was as brilliant as the moonlight and Draco noticed, for perhaps the first time, that her front teeth had been straightened and were no longer buck-toothed.

"I told you you'd like it up here." He was acting cocky and arrogant so she couldn't see how much she affected him. He turned his head away to look at the stars, the lake, anything so he wouldn't have to look at her and do something stupid.

Hermione leaned back to drop a kiss on his cheek, but he turned back at the movement and accidentally caught her lips with his.

Hermione's eyes widened, and after a few moments pulled away. Draco looked at her long and hard; she didn't look away or make a move to turn around. He gave a mental shrug and a 'to-hell-with-it' and leaned forward.

Hermione closed her eyes as Draco's face neared her own. The kiss was hesitant and light. Draco pulled away to look at her again. His hand lifted from the broom handle to brush a stray section of hair that barred her face from his vision.

Hermione suddenly turned around pulled herself closer to the front end of the broom. Draco felt a brief pang of disappointment before he smothered it. Of course she wouldn't want to kiss him. Hermione's leg swung around so she was facing him and scooted forward.

It was she who initiated the kiss this time, pulling his face down to hers, one hand tangled in his hair, the other holding onto the broom beneath her.

Draco was surprised at her boldness but couldn't really say it bothered him. He pulled her body closer to his, one hand at her neck, the other on her hip. Hermione pulled back just enough to mutter something.

"If both your hands are on me, how exactly are you holding on to the broom? And how are you steering?"

Draco gave her a mocking glare. "You talk way too much Granger. For your information, I'm holding on with my knees and I'm steering in a similar manner. I've been flying since I was a kid; trust me."

And strangely, she did.

Lemme know whatcha think! (Please, you don't absolutely have to...)


	11. Chapter 11

Updated: Sept. 20, 2010

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. However since tomorrow is my birthday, I'll be uploading another chapter. Hope you enjoy!

AM

"…_I've been flying since I was a kid; trust me."_

_And strangely, she did. _

That night Hermione dreamt of angel wings and silvery, starlit eyes. She woke up with a smile on her face and it stayed on her face until Ginny pestered her for details at lunch time.

"Come one Hermione! Something happened! Otherwise you wouldn't have that dopey grin on your face!"

"I do not have a dopey grin on my face Ginevra Weasley! I happened to have a very restful sleep and that put me in a good mood."

Thus said, she put a silencer on Ginny, who had grimaced at her full name, and continued reading her book. Or so it seemed. She moved her eyes across the lines but didn't actually take any of the words in.

She knew that she was falling for Malfoy, and fast. He was a complete arse at times yes, but he was smart and they'd had so many interesting conversation in the past 3 months that she'd never would've been able to have with her friends.

He may still believe in blood superiority, but he wasn't Dark like everyone thought. He didn't like the path his father had chosen and certainly didn't plan on following it.

He loved history and learning almost as much as she did and had a plan to remake the Malfoy name and what it meant. She admired that about him.

He was interesting to talk to about political ideals and various laws in the Ministry, and he actually knew how to make an argument; which was more than she could say for Ron. Harry knew how to, but he lacked the finesse that Draco had when it came to speaking and giving a rebuttal on the fly.

She also knew that an actual relationship between the two of them would never work. Malfoy's purist thought wouldn't allow her a place as his wife; neither would his mother. And really, neither would the Wizarding world. She was a witch of the Light and he a, supposed, wizard of the Dark. Nothing could be more taboo really.

Hermione was unsure of her course of action. Should she give herself wholly to their charade-

"Hey Hermione, let's go flying!"

"No Harry."

"But you went with Malfoy!"

"He's my boyfriend Harry."

Or should she guard her heart ever more closely, and do her best to stave off the eventual heartbreak?

And for once, Hermione didn't have an immediate answer. She thought about writing her mother and asking her for help, but was quite sure her mother would be all over her asking for details about every little thing, and _that_ was something she wished to avoid.

Instead she put decided to put it out of her mind, for the moment and just deal with it when it came about. Though she would err on the side of caution, which meant not getting her heart broken, which meant guarding her heart.

Common sense told her that getting your heart broken is a part of life. Her response was that a heart usually gets a chance to flourish under the love of someone else before it gets broken. What she would have been doing was sheer stupidity.

And with that, the matter was resolved. Feeling satisfied with her conclusion Hermione made her way to her afternoon classes and jotted little notes on ways she could distance herself from Dra-Malfoy when they came to her.

The first was to refer to him in her mind as Malfoy (the name associated with humiliation and seven years worth of fighting) and Draco when speaking to him directly, or to other people in terms of their relationship.

Today was the day they handed in their potions project and Hermione was extremely proud of hers. She had a binder full of notes on what they used; where, when and how they found it; when ingredients were added; how they maximized the potency; the effects they'd both felt at certain stages of the potion.

Well, it would have if she had a binder. As it stood, she'd numbered all her pages and magically bound them. She had also copied her conversations with Malfoy onto regular parchment and bound that as well. She'd taken pictures with a muggle camera of various stages of the potion and had inserted those into her notes.

Her bound pages and Malfoy's together made a stack about 3.5" high and there were several vials of the potion. They had each kept a few vials for themselves.

Everyone sat in their seats and were called up group by group to hand in their projects. Scathing remarks usually accompanied such a procession.

"Veritaserum."

Padma Patil and Terry Boot walked forward and gave their project to Professor Snape.

He spared a glance at the vials and snorted.

"Colour is too transparent, should be more opaque and pearlescent, which means that at its strongest, it will work on a Second Year and no one else with a bigger magical core."

He pulled the cork out and poured a little into a Petri-dish.

"Too watery, probably caused the transparency problem." He snorted again and waved his hand. The two were allowed to sit down.

"Amortentia."

Hermione snorted as Pansy and Millicent strode to the front. _'Typical. A group of girls decided to make the strongest love potion in the Wizarding world.'_

Snape sent a baleful glance at the girls as they walked up to his desk.

"Be warned Parkinson and Bulstrode, that if I find any evidence of this potion in your grasp, I will have you suspended or expelled, depending of the degree of the infraction. This is an illegal potion and we were given strict permission to use it as a project. If you have any in your pockets, hand it over now."

Shame-faced, the two girls each pulled a few vials out of their robe pockets and handed them to the dour-faced professor.

"You will have marks docked for this as there was a clear warning about keeping any when you started the project."

The two female Slytherins, who had strode confidently to the front now skulked back to their seats.

"Wolf's Bane"

Harry and Neville got up to deliver their project. Hermione mentally wished them luck with their grades.

"I do hope you don't expect this to be of use to anyone Potter. Why with your big head making it impossible to see anything, and Longbottom's inability to do anything remotely correct with potions, I wouldn't wish this pathetic mishap on any werewolf. Except maybe a certain one we both know."

A cruel smirk marked his face and Harry's fists were clenched as he struggled to contain his temper. Neville grabbed the sleeve of his robe and gave a none-too-gentle tug on it. Harry looked at Neville, who gave a slight shake of his head and then they walked back to their seats. Hermione winked at Harry and gave him a discreet thumbs-up.

"Felix Felicis. Interesting choice Malfoy." There was approval in his voice. Hermione knew that any good marks would be accredited to Malfoy and any loss of marks would be blamed on her. They stood and carried their papers and vials to Snape's desk.

Snape looked at the three vials of liquid gold and felt a surge of pride at Draco's skill. He also had the Mudblood helping him. Not that she really helped improve his skill any, but with anyone else, the potion would have been a flop. And as every potions-master knew, that was highly dangerous.

He had been loathe to include that on the list, not only because it was dangerous, but most likely because students would use it for their own gain in tests and possibly even their NEWTs.

But Dumbledore trusted the students and said it was covered in the curriculum, so it was a viable option.

He nodded his head at the two and they sat down. Hermione breathed a quiet sigh a relief as she walked back to her desk and sat down. She immediately spaced out and began thinking about her winter vacation and that damned present she still had to get Malfoy.

That weekend was the last Hogsmeade trip before Winter Break and Draco asked Hermione to meet him for supper at The Three Broomsticks. Hermione agreed, as it would still allow her some time to spend with Harry, Ginny and Neville.

Once Malfoy had left for his own table, Hermione turned to Lavender and Pavarti who were eagerly listening while trying to look like they were not.

"Lavender. Pavarti. I think it's time you start teaching me those hair and make-up spells."

They squealed. To Hermione, it sounded the damning door of Hell being slammed shut. Ginny snickered into her hand at the look on her friend's face. Had Hermione been paying more attention she would have sent a mild hex at her younger friend.

But, as it was, she was busy contemplating suicide before The Terrible Two got their wands trained on her. The three of them agreed to meet at quarter to five (Malfoy hadn't specified a time but Hermione assumed it would be around six, like the last time).

Once breakfast was finished by everyone, the four students made their way to the Gryffindor tower to get money, jackets, mitts, hats and scarves.

It was while wandering through a lesser known alley of Hogsmeade that Hermione found the perfect idea for Malfoy's gift. Quickly running to the store All-Needs-But-a-Thneed, Hermione sought out her needed ingredients.

A lump of coal, a small silver object, a piece of black leather string, three bottles of varying ink colour, a miniature set of phials, and an eye dropper and took everything to front to pay for it.

She received weird looks for the randomness of her purchase, but she just grinned at the man and went on her way. She was still grinning when she met up with everyone else.

Harry groaned when he saw her face. Ginny and Neville asked what was wrong.

"She's got that look on her face. The one that means she's found something interesting and won't leave it alone until she's either found all the pertinent information or nothing else can be done about a situation. And sometimes even then, she'll keep trying.

It's horrible. She once found this vague mention of some forgotten battle in history that no body cares about; and decided to recreate the battle on a miniature scale to see if the outcome that was written really could have happened."

"What did she do?" Neville had asked before Hermione could silence him.

"She spent the next 6 months creating two armies, as exactly as she could to match those in history. Then she tries to recreate the magical levels (on a miniature scale mind you) and abilities certain people had.

Adding into the mix elements and events that had forced the armies to their current position. The first time didn't work so well, so she roped me an' Ron into helping and got better materials and tried different equations, ingredients and balances. It was bloody insane! She only stopped when McGonagall finally noticed and told her to stop as it was disrupting her learning!"

Hermione had a light blush on her face when Harry began the tale, but her face was scarlet by the time he finished.

Ginny was laughing at her friend and Neville gave a low whistle of incredulity.

Hermione tilted her head up and gave a delicate sniff. "I was curious about something. And that's how all great discoveries are made, you know!"

"Actually some are made entirely by accident." The voice came from behind her. It was Draco Malfoy.

"Name one."

"Potato chips." Hermione and Harry were surprised Malfoy even knew what those were, let alone that they had been created by accident.

"I'd hardly call that a great discovery _Sweetheart_. Try again."

"LSD."

"Again, not a great discovery."

"Well they are to _some_ people." Hermione glared at Harry.

"Off the top of my head, **America** by Christopher Columbus in 1492; **penicillin** by Alexander Fleming in 1928; **smallpox vaccination** by Edward Jenner in 1796; a**nesthesia** by Sir Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1846; **viagra** patented by the company Pfizer in 1996; a**ntidepressants**; i**nsulin**, idea began in 1869, made progress in 1889 and continued until 1921 when Banting and Best began experimenting and went on the market in 1922 and **botulinum toxin**, a common sedative."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Fine. Some great discoveries are found by accident. Don't you have something else to do? Like scaring little children, or telling everyone that Santa Clause doesn't exist?"

And then she turned on her heel and left, pulling Ginny and Neville beside her. Ginny was pulling Harry.

"What was _that_ all about Hermione? I thought you were happy with him? Did you guys have a fight?"

Hermione heaved an exasperated sigh and looked at Ginny.

"Ginny. I just bought his Christmas present. Do you really think I want him hanging around when he could get a look at it at any given moment?"

Realization dawned on her face and she nodded to herself. "Right. Makes sense."

At half past, Hermione bade her friends goodbye and made her way up to Gryffindor tower.

She spent the evening with Malfoy and they chatted about various wards and their effects, each trying to outdo the other with their knowledge. The finally determined that they knew about equal on the topic and continued the meal.

'_Overall it was a good day.'_ Hermione thought, as she crept into bed. She remembered her present for Malfoy, and resolved to start it the following day.

Alright, please, lemme know whatcha think. The line about Santa Claus may have come from "27 Dresses"...can't remember... It seems familiar and that's the only thing that comes to mind. Anywho. Blame sisters. Apologies for the chapter being so short... =(

AM


	12. Chapter 12

Update: Sept. 21, 2010

To my Wonderful Readers, as promised, here is the next chapter. Please enjoy! To the reviewer who wished me a happy birthday, thank you for the wishes and sorry for being a dimwit! I completely forgot I had written that at the beginning of the last chapter. So sorry!

AM

'Overall it was a good day.'_ Hermione thought, as she crept into bed. She remembered her present for Malfoy, and resolved to start it the following day._

A dim and muted sky filled Hermione's room with pre-dawn light and she woke up to the gentle vibration of her wand's alarm going off. Deciding to spend the day in her pajamas, she pulled on an oversized, hooded sweatshirt and conjured up a complex breakfast.

She'd wanted to try it outside of class for the past week. A tray with a plate of fresh fruit, a hot scone with butter, two sausages and bacon, a glass of orange juice and a mug of hot chocolate appeared in front of her and she eagerly began working while munching on her food.

Knowing that she wanted to make a pendant with special properties, she summoned her Advanced Charms and Advanced Transfiguration books. She knew there was a book in the library for creating pendants of all kinds, as well as a few books about creating magical images.

Reading through her texts, she realized that everything should work, theoretically, but she needed to prep her materials, and to do that she needed some texts from the library. She pulled her hoodie off and shrugged into her school robe.

"Finally! I have everything I need, and unless it is absolutely needed to complete my project, I shall not leave this room!"

She had changed back into the oversized hoodie and was perched, cross-legged on her bed. A section of her comforter had been transfigured into a slightly raised desk. Essentially a very large podium, though at a lesser angle and it was just the surface.

Skimming through the book on pendants she found the section on protective-pendants and began reading and copying notes. Once finished, she browsed through the magical images book. It had an impossibly small section on tattoos, though the information was well-related and Hermione had gleaned enough information from various other chapters to feel comfortable in what she wanted to do.

First she copied the lump of coal and then enlarged the original. Taking the copy, Hermione set about mixing the coal and silver into a malleable form. The silver would keep the form, while the coal would allow it to be shaped and eventually blend into the ink.

Once the two compounds were combined to make a dark, metallic grey lump, Hermione set it aside and turned to the larger piece of coal. She wanted to turn it into a diamond.

Knowing this would take the longest amount of time, but unable to really progress without it, she checked her enthusiasm for a week. Using a fancy bit of conjugation and transfiguration, she created a box. Using her Ancient Runes knowledge, Hermione engraved series upon series of runes along the edges, inside, and outside of the box's faces. She also inscribed twelve very specific runes, two on each face.

Four hours later, Hermione sat back on her heels and admired the box. Quickly walking to her trunk, she pulled out a vial and duplicated it before going back to the box. Chanting a spell, Hermione upended the first vial and watched the liquid drift lazily down to cover the entire box.

Not wanting to get large quantities of potion soaking the carpet, Hermione levitated the cube about three feet in the air and muttered a second charm to keep it there.

While she waited for the first potion to soak into the wood, she pulled out her cauldron, potions text and ingredients and set to work. The cube would require much more of the potion she'd already used for it to truly work.

After all the ingredients had been added and the potion was gently simmering, Hermione turned back to her bed and began preparation work on her other items.

The string was really just there to hold the pendant until it became a tattoo, but Hermione wondered if the magic involved would consider the leather thong as part of the pendant and thus it would turn into the tattoo as well, or if Malfoy would just be left with a random piece of leather hanging around his neck.

And if he took that cord off, would that have a negative effect on the protective measures in the tattoo…Not really feeling up to trying an experiment on herself (besides her lack of viable ingredients) she decided it was just better to include it somehow and hope for the best.

Taking the bottles of ink, she poured each one into separate dishes she had transfigured and began laying down the foundational charms for what the ink would eventually be.

The dark, almost shadowed, silver would be the underbelly of the animal; and the dark forest green and shadowy brown-black would make a crisscross pattern similar to the Inland Taipan.

As there was no evidence of this ever having been done before, Hermione was almost at a loss and had only her mind to depend on. That and improvisation…Which wasn't always the best thing when doing spell creation.

Hermione frowned. _'Technically it's not spell creation, but I have to devise some, previously unknown, way of aligning, though really it's more like joining, the ink and rock together in one form that will be solid and then be able to transform itself into an image. _

_And it can only transform into an image for a certain person, and then it will become a tattoo. I don't want it to randomly transform against a wall or something and imprint itself there. Oh lord, I'm talking about it as if it's a sentient thing.'_

She paused. _'Well…it kind of is… sort of… Like those guardians that old families have to keep intruders away.'_

A light bulb turned on above her head. Sending a stasis charm to the cauldron and pouring the second vial over the floating box, she raced out the room and barged into Malfoy's.

And promptly froze. He was lying on his bed, eyes closed, one hand gently stroking his throbbing erection. Hermione's faced turned a permanent red and she backed out of the room as quietly as she could. Unfortunately, her foot thumped against the door and she found herself pinned to the wall by a very naked Malfoy, with a wand pressed to her throat before she could gasp in pain.

"What are you doing here Granger?"

"Ow." She winced as he forced her against the wall and her heel made contact, again. "I came in to ask you something, saw you were…occupied and tried to leave quietly."

One of his perfectly arched eyebrows rose up into his hair. "And it _never _occurred to you to knock before you entered someone's room? I thought you had basic manners Granger. Apparently I was wrong."

"I made a discovery and was excited. I knew you had some knowledge about a similar topic and was hoping I could use your knowledge to further my own endeavors. And if you'll kindly let me go, I'll leave you to your business and find my information elsewhere."

She made a move to leave and Draco's arm shot out to stop her. "I don't think so Granger. You've made me curious. Again. And I want to know what you're planning."

She glared at him. "It's really none of your business Malfoy. I can find the information from a variety of sources, you just happened to be the closest. Now let me leave."

"No." And she was suddenly sitting on his bed, facing a -still- naked Head Boy.

She averted her eyes. "Could you _please_ put some clothes on!"

He was smirking, she just knew it!

"Hmmm, no. I'm quite comfortable how I am. Besides, I'd have thought that at 17 year old girl would have seen a naked male before." He looked her up and down. "Well, maybe not you."

Hermione stood in an angry huff. She didn't even have her wand. In her haste to grab parchment and pen, she'd left it on her bed.

"I am in the middle of something that is quite important to me, so if you don't mind I'm going to get back to it. Play your games with someone else Malfoy."

She strode to the door and almost made it through before she was pulled against a larger body. _'A wonderfully muscled and very _naked_ body.'_ Her mind supplied. Hermione blushed.

Draco leaned down to whisper in the ear of the dainty witch pulled against him.

"You are in no position to make demands Hermione." She shivered as her name rolled off his tongue in a purr. "Nor do you have your wand with you. In fact, I think I can consider you my captive."

Hermione licked her suddenly dry lips. This was not a good position to be in. Malfoy was up to something, she was sure; and she still had her project in her room. It was out in the open for anyone to waltz in and look at. Or take. And she really needed to take her cauldron off the fire and put the potion into vials.

Draco bit back a groan at the sight of Hermione's small pink tongue snaking out and wetting her lips. This had the potential to be a bad situation. He was naked as the day he was born, and she was tempting him, however unknowingly.

She had been his mental fantasy when she had barged in. When he had pinned her to the wall, it hadn't really helped matters any. Then he magicked her to his bed, her eyes sparking in anger, her hair a tumbled mess from the bun it was in. And finally, he just _had_ to pull her flush against his body when she moved to leave.

Her voice had a slight tremble in it as she spoke. "You can't hold me captive Malfoy. I'm the Head Girl. Someone would notice."

"No they won't. It's a Sunday, the day you take to relax and finish any last bit of homework. Pothead, Weaslette, and Longbottom all know that. In fact the majority of the school knows that. The only ones who could possibly want to speak with you are the professors. And they can easily send you an owl."

He smirked into her hair, his hands still pinning her arms at her sides, his fingertips just brushing her hip through the bulky material of the hoodie. He could've slipped his fingers under the hoodie, but he figured there was no point in scaring her.

"As a matter of fact, I can magically lock you inside this room for the rest of today, and use a variety of, let's say, not entirely-legal, spells and no one will notice."

She struggled against him and a strangled gasp fell through his lips and his head dropped to her shoulder. Hermione stilled. "They can use priori incantatem."

A dark chuckle sounded against her hooded shoulder.

"Interesting fact about priori incantatem, it only shows the last 15-20 spells, depending on their strength. So I can use a variety of spells pertaining to homework or simple household charms and no one would be the wiser."

"Unless I told them, and I'd think they're more inclined to believe me than you." Hermione struggled again. Draco let her go and flopped onto his bed, one leg bent at the knee.

"Give it up Granger, I've magically locked it and even if you do happen to get hold of my wand, there is no way you can get out of here."

She ignored his words and tried anyway. Draco shook his head at her idiocy and thought about how he could tease her into kissing him or more. Images of her dancing at Hallowe'en made him groan; definitely something more.

Hermione barely paid him attention and decided that since she was stuck here, she may as well snoop. Looking over at the bed, Malfoy seemed to have his eyes shut. He was touching himself again. She rolled her eyes, disgusted.

"Exhibitionist."

She found his trunk and dug and poked through that, finding school texts, class materials, a few non-essential articles of clothing and a curious black box.

It only had a basic locking charm, but even that was far beyond her right now. '_Though…'_ She looked at Malfoy again. He had left his wand on his dresser. She snuck over and gently picked it up. Silently moving back to his trunk she whispered the unlocking charm.

The box expanded as she opened it and inside she found a stack of photos and letters tied in a bundle. Untying the knot she opened the first letter. It was from an eleven year Malfoy writing to his father about how the Boy-Who-Lived had rejected his friendship and how it hurt. He'd written about his first week at school and how irritating Crabbe and Goyle were.

They don't do anything except follow me around. I know they aren't as stupid as people seem to think they are, but can they do nothing else? I need my privacy!

None of the other Slytherins seem interested in being friends, though they do defer to my leadership. Pansy is always hanging around talking about our engagement. I told her we have no such thing.

Hermione paused in her reading to glance up at the young man on the bed. She pulled out the next letter; it was a scathing reply from his father.

In it, he was told that he no longer had such a thing as privacy, get used to it. Malfoy's were always in sight, if only to have a cover up story. Crabbe and Goyle would become his men-at-arms and there was nothing he could do to about it otherwise. And yes, talk _was_ being made about his and Pansy's arranged marriage.

And so Hermione spent the next several hours reading letters that Draco, not Malfoy, had written home to his father, and sometimes his mother, and their replies. A lot of it made her want to cry.

She saw a young boy wanting something everyone else had, something intangible, just out of reach. But was told that such a thing was beyond his grasp and then shut up inside thick glass walls where he could forever see what he could not have.

Draco woke up from his nap to hear soft sobs from somewhere in his room. Sitting up he saw the mess on his sheets and reached over to his dresser for his wand to clean it up. His wand wasn't there. His eyes snapped to the offending piece of furniture, still not there. He stood up.

Hermione heard a rustle of fabric and a muffled moan beyond her sobs and looked up. Draco had obviously woken up. She stood and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his shoulders in a desperate hug.

Draco stumbled backwards onto his bed when a blurred form crashed into his. Instinctively his arms went around the body that landed on top of him. Hair tickled his mouth so he lifted his head a tad higher. Muffled cries of sorry fell against his skin.

He determined the thing on top of him was female and then, having resolved that, remembered what had taken place prior to his nap. The crying female was Granger. He sighed. She was lying perfectly in his arms, her face cradled against his shoulder. He liked the way she felt against him. He froze after the thought passed across his mind.

Eventually her sobs subsided and she made to pull back. Draco tightened his hold and she slowly relaxed back onto him.

"Now, what exactly was all that about?"

Hermione propped herself up on her elbows so she could look Draco in the face.

He looked serene enough but she knew the moment she told him she went through his personal belongings, he would flip.

"I read your letters." No one said she couldn't be vague about it.

A blank look crossed his face. "You read my what?"

"Your letters. I read them. The ones you wrote throughout your schooling, you keep them in a, pitifully locked if I may add, black box in your trunk."

Recognition slowly made its way across his face and his once serene features were now clouding with rage.

He flipped her over and pinned her beneath him. Hermione was sure there was some sexual quip that could be made. This was the second time he'd done this!

"What the hell do you think you were doing looking through my stuff?" He was practically snarling at her, and despite the fact that she knew she should be feeling fear at the moment, all she could grasp at was the righteous fury of a scorned woman.

"What the hell do you think Malfoy! You lock me up in here, threaten me, and then fall off into beddy-bye land! As your enemy, don't you think I would take this golden opportunity to skunk through your stuff? And don't pretend that you wouldn't do the exact same thing!"

Anger was lighting her eyes and flushing her face again and Draco was finding it hard to keep his mind on the task at hand. Which did not involve kissing and stripping down the witch beneath him. Oh Merlin, he shouldn't have mentioned that she was beneath him.

Wonderful images floated across his mind; Hermione writhing against him; screaming and moaning his name at her climax; her supple chest pressed against his own; her long legs wrapped around his waist. _Fuck._

Hermione narrowed her gaze on the wizard above her. He seemed to be struggling with something though she couldn't imagine what. It certainly wasn't guilt over the fact that he would have done it too.

"Besides, if they're so damn personal, I suggest you keep them better protected next time!"

"They are in my trunk. No one, barring me, can get it that trunk! I didn't really think I needed to keep those protections up when the only person in my room is my own fucking self!"

"And quite obviously, in your stupidity you failed to realize that people do come and go in these dorms and rooms and anyone really could have seen those. We both bring people up all the time!"

"Who would I bring Granger?"

"Your girlfriend for one? I don't know!"

"Why the bloody hell would I bring another girl up here?** You** are my girlfriend Granger! Or so everyone thinks! So unless I feel like 'cheating' on you, which wouldn't help me, or making our plan known to a third party, which again wouldn't benefit me, **no one would come up here!**"

"Well that's your bloody pro-" Draco leaned down and smashed his mouth against hers. An effective way to shut someone up to be sure. However it usually worked better if the second person didn't bite your lip soon after.

"What the hell was that for bitch?"

"What the hell was it _for_! Gee I dunno, maybe the fact that you were kissing me?"

"Well you didn't mind last time _Hermione_!"

"Yeah? Well last time, and trust me it will be the last time, you were acting like a gentleman, not some rabid man who has to force himself on a woman to get some action!"

They struggled against each other, Draco mainly prevailing, using his strength. But Hermione was nothing if not smart and she managed to maneuver them until they fell off the bed. Pulling one arm free she reached back to grab his wand.

Draco sat up and made a grab for her wrist; Hermione brought the wand to his face, the tip glowing. It was a stalemate. Hermione could use his wand, but he limited her wrist movement. Draco could flip her over and pin her again, but she had his wand and after seven years of seeing her with spells, he knew that she could be wicked fast when she wanted to be. Now would probably be one of those times.

Their faces were close together and Hermione was straddling Draco's hips, while his hands were holding her arms, one pinned to her side, his fingers brushing the flimsy tee she wore as bed clothing.

Molten silver looked into sparking cinnamon. Draco thought he moved first but really it could have been either of them. His hand let go of her wrist; Hermione dropped the wand.

Hands were suddenly tangling in hair, bodies pressing up against each other, trying to get closer, closer. Hermione stood on her knees and pulled Draco forward so they were even closer.

Draco slipped one hand from her neck down to the small of her back and began to stand. Hermione half stumbled and their lips separated. Draco caught her head and pulled her mouth to his so he could taste her again. Gently moving her hands around his head and shoulders, he picked her up.

Hermione wrapped her legs around Draco's waist in an effort to stay up as he stood and moved them over to the large bed. Gently placing the beautiful witch on the bed, Draco crawled up and onto her and began kissing her neck.

"Merlin, you are so addictive."

Hermione moaned as he found a particularly sensitive spot.

"And you, sir, are _very_ good with your mouth!"

Draco lifted his head to grin at her, she grinned deviously back and they both moved in for a hungry kiss.

Again, hope you enjoyed! Please be aware that with two updates so close together, there won't be a third update for a bit of time. Just FYI.

AM


	13. Chapter 13

Uploaded: Jan. 7, 2011

_Draco lifted his head to grin at her, she grinned deviously back and they both moved in for a hungry kiss._

Hermione opened her eyes, briefly looked about and grinned. She and Draco had spent the last several hours getting to know each other very intimately. They had dozed off, completely knackered, curled around each other on Draco's lush, queen sized bed.

Slipping from lithely-muscled arms that trapped her, Hermione quickly scribbled a note and dropped it onto the pillow before snatching up her clothes and departing for her room.

A short while later the Malfoy scion woke up and unconsciously frowned when he noticed the spot beside him was empty.

Blearily opening his eyes, the frown became more prominent when he noticed a distinct lack of Hermione Granger in the room.

A sharp tack of hurt flashed through Draco before he ruthlessly shoved it aside. He should not feel any hurt when someone, and a mudblood at that, left while he slept. If anything, it should have been the other way around.

Still, feelings Draco had never really experienced briefly came to the fore as he thought about the situation. He wasn't sure what they were, or why he felt them, but he didn't like it.

Blindly punching the nearest pillow, a sharp crackle of parchment made him pause in his anger. Unclenching his hand, he smoothed out the rumpled paper and read the short note scrawled across it.

A brilliant smile made its presence known before Draco frowned, wondering why the note would elicit such a response from him.

Turning to his bedside table, Draco snatched his wand and whipped it around, clothes and other items that littered the floor were magically picked up and folded, hung or put neatly away.

Pulling on a pair of sinfully tight dark jeans and a light colored sleeveless shirt, complete with a hood and pockets, he opened the door and made his way into the commons.

Hermione smiled as she entered her room, the afternoon sun lighting everything up with a delicious glow, despite the winter weather.

Thankful of her presence of mind to attached a stasis charm to her cauldron should it be inactive for a certain amount of time, she quickly realized that she couldn't go to Malfoy for answers.

_ 'Can you honestly call him Malfoy after fucking each other senseless?'_

Hermione ignored the small voice. Honestly, it was so crude! If she began to ask questions about old family guardians, he might get curious, or suspicious. Neither were very good moods to pair with Malfoy. He would start asking questions and snooping around her stuff.

And really, it wasn't that necessary to understand it, though undoubtedly Hermione would be in the library researching it at the next possible moment, the two things just had a few similarities.

Knowing that Malfoy would be up and about soon she magically locked her door and sat down to work. She still had a few more hours until dinner.

Taking the stasis charm off her cauldron Hermione was pleased to note that it was almost complete. She waited a few minutes before she re-filled her vial and gently poured it over the still hovering box.

Thinking about ways she would make this work, and the different things she wanted to do with it, Hermione spent the next two hours reading, jotting notes and pouring a vial of potion over the box every twenty minutes.

At long last she felt enough potion had been absorbed by the wood. Still hung in mid-air, Hermione placed the small lump of coal inside the box and activated the runes. Soft lights flickered in earthy reds, soft browns and luminescent violet.

Having finished that, Hermione began working on other pieces of her unfinished puzzle. Nothing but time could help the cube along faster.

Looking at her notes, and cross referencing her material, Hermione found that most pendants are given a set amount of magic at the beginning and are then focused, usually by adding a drop of the wearer's blood. But there was no mention of how the pendant retained its power.

She wanted something that would absorb excess magic from the wearer, a storehouse of some kind. Similar to the power crystals ancient warlocks used for battle. Hermione sighed. This kind of thing would only be in the Restricted Section of the library. She worried her lip. Which professor could she use to get a permission slip?

_ 'Or you could just do what Harry did, and use his invisibility cloak.' _

Hermione mentally slapped the voice. And once it was safely in a hidden corner where it couldn't hear her, she lauded the idea and the possibilities it presented. Shrugging the thoughts away she resolved to do exactly that within the next week.

She wasn't hard pressed for time, she was staying over the Christmas break, but Draco's birthday was in just under a month and a half. The coal should be refined enough in about two weeks, possibly earlier with all the runes she'd inscribed.

Looking at the materials strewn about her bed, around her person and on the floor, Hermione realized that she could do nothing more at this point and closed all her resources.

Stacking the texts in an organized pile on her desk, she gathered the remaining materials and safely enclosed them in a box and placed the box under the fake bottom in one of her desk drawers.

She would talk to Harry about borrowing his cloak at dinner time. Her actually asking him for it should arouse his surprise and curiosity enough to let her have it without giving away too much information. She smirked. Sometimes it paid to be book-ish and smart.

She paused and tapped a finger against her chin. Actually it always paid off. With a smile she threw on a regular black school cloak, locked her doors and made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room to be with her friends until dinner.

Draco gave the tiniest of huffs. He had been waiting for that idiotic Granger woman for almost an hour now! Surely she would be done whatever it was she doing that needed to be done so urgently.

Throwing his hands in the air, he grabbed a warm silk cloak and made his way to the dungeons. The idiots that lived down there should be able to cheer him up at the very least by being completely stupid.

"Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak for the next week? I need to search the Restricted Section."

The steamed beans that were just placed in Harry's mouth were suddenly sucked partway down his throat in the sudden intake of air at Hermione's words. Neville obligingly pounded Harry's back as he began to cough, splutter and choke, somehow managing all three at the same time.

Giving a weak nod to Neville in thanks, Harry turned to Hermione and croaked out a question. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I said, 'Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak for the next week? I need to search the Restricted Section.' Good enough for you?"

"Fine, thanks. Why do you need my cloak?"

Hermione raised her eyebrow. It conveyed her un-vocalized thoughts of him being completely retarded.

Harry noticed her look and nodded. "Right…You already said. And why can't you just get a pass from any of the teachers that absolutely adore you?"

"Because I'd have to give them a valid reason, and I doubt the one I do have will qualify. Thus, your invisibility cloak."

"Okay, who are you and what have to done to my friend?" Green eyes were ethereal behind silky black bangs that fell across his face. The overall look was one of glowing green eyes set in a face of preternatural beauty.

Hermione ignored the beautiful eyes that would entrance others and bore into their souls. She took a small sip of hot coffee, before placing a forkful of roast beef, lightly covered with gravy into her mouth.

Chewing politely until it was gone she took her time answering Harry, knowing that her actions plus her words would make him feel all the more stupid. She loved having friends.

The voice in her head snickered at the supposed goody-two-shoes of Gryffindor.

"Harry, darling, do you remember that conversation we had not too long ago? I realize you're a male, a magical one at that, but really, I thought you actually knew how to use the mass between your ears."

The glowing in his eyes lessened until it left entirely. Harry thought back to the conversations he'd had recently and came up blank. Moving his mind further into the past, Harry whizzed past meaningless day-to-day confrontations. He stopped at the dark enclosed room, heavy with warding spells.

Ah, that one! Now knowing which conversation his bookworm friend had been talking about, Harry knew exactly what she meant and began to think about that in the context in which Hermione had laid out before him.

Others had assumed the conversation ended and noticed nothing at all when Hermione gave the slightest of nods at the barest hint of a look given to her by Harry. She knew that her friend was not as dumb as he pretended to be. Living under the circumstances like those he'd grown up with, would force any being to develop a mind rather quickly and learn how to use it.

Hermione also knew that once they had both graduated they would most likely drop all facades they'd adapted throughout their schooling years. And it would most likely be in a place that was not England.

England's magical community was interesting and all that, but it was decrepit, old and impossibly stagnant. Nothing good would come of them staying there. Hermione would probably go to the south, southeastern parts of Europe and Harry would probably follow her lead.

At least in terms of studying areas. Harry was amazing at defensive magicks and in all honesty, would likely build his studies and eventual career around that.

And so dinner passed, small talk was made and gossip exchanged. Harry and Hermione had their own private conversation with their eyes and slight motions, while still involving themselves in the chatter around them.

"This has something to do with Malfoy's gift doesn't it?"

Harry knew that everything regarding schoolwork would be found with the main area of the library. The only new thing that had caught Hermione's attention in the past few weeks had been her bag of random objects.

Hermione nodded. Harry nodded to his own thoughts and reached into his trunk. They were the only ones in the dorm. Seamus and Dean had gone off somewhere with a couple girls and Neville was still chatting in the commons with Ginny.

For all intents and purposes, it looked like the two would eventually become a couple. Hermione knew better. Dropping a kiss on Harry's cheek, she folded the cloak into a small square and placed it into her book-bag. It was kind of like a purse, but far more practical.

"And where have you been Granger?"

Hermione started. She hadn't seen Malfoy in the dim light of the low fire. No other lamps were lit either.

"I was with my friends. Incidentally, I hadn't realized that as a to-be fiancé I had to follow the rules of wife-dom and therefore could not talk to any previous friends who were male."

"And why were you talking to Potter?"

Dead silence and a raised eyebrow answered him. He scowled in an attempt to not seem stupid. He doubted Hermione believed it.

"Right, well, fascinating as chatting with you is _Dear_, I think I'm feeling a bit sleepy and so off to bed go I."

Draco stared at her. "That was horribly phrased."

"Oh, most undoubtedly Draco-Dear, but sometimes it's nothing but fun to fuddle your worlds and mix them up, saying words which sound better even though the meaning is completely off or ass-backwards. Nighty-night."

And she flounced into her room. Draco stared incredulously at the place she had stood, and continued long after she had disappeared through her door. Heaving a sigh, he stood activated the fire-protection charms and departed for his own bed. He paused at the door and glanced at the other occupant's room entrance.

A mischievously evil smile made its way across Draco handsome face and he passed through the doorway, planning his evil plan.

At an hour past midnight Draco silently made his way from his room to Granger's. Creeping up to the bed, he paused for a few moments to admire the vision she made.

Unbridled curls fell across the pillows while the moonlight created beatific shadows of Hermione's face. The overall effect was one of a wild beauty, similar to the paintings of the old Celtic druids dancing, that Draco had seen as a child.

And yet, he tilted his head, her face was calm and peaceful, at odds with the wild moonlight but somehow adding to it at the same time.

Shaking his head, Draco pushed those thoughts aside and slowly slipped under the covers until he was flush against the petit girl and could wrap his arms around her slim waist.

Snuggling close, he got a few strands of rebellious hair in his face, tickling his lips and nose. Leaning back, he brushed her hair out of his way and moved back in. His body was curled around hers, arms snug against her torso, his mouth by her bare shoulder.

Draco pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her skin and nestled by her neck. Breathing in her warm scent he smiled and gave her another gentle kiss. Hearing her slight moan brought flashes of their morning/afternoon together and he gave a mild groan.

Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself against her womanly wiles, however unconscious they were. Hermione shifted closer to the source of heat behind her and gave a breathy moan at the feeling of being surrounded by warmth and security. Draco stifled a moan as her hips shifted against his. He could feel himself becoming aroused.

Grimly, he forced himself to think about undesirable things. Snape in a bikini; Dumbledore macking on McGonagall in the Great Hall; McGonagall in spandex; Potter is a speedo. Draco paused, wondering why the hell he was thinking of Potter and Snape in little all else.

But thinking of Potter connected his mind to Hermione. And with Potter in almost nothing, Hermione wearing no clothes, sprawled across his bed came to mind and he groaned once more, feeling the urge to go about bashing his head against the wall.

It would be worth all the trouble just to see her reaction when she woke up. All he had to was survive the night.

AN: So...being the idiot that I am, instead of being smart (like usual in this regard) I decided to bring an open can of ginger ale near my laptop. And promptly fried my laptop. Luckily for all you readers, this chapter was already online. However, this does mean an even longer wait should be expected as I need to get a new computer, see if I can salvage anything from my destroyed one and then begin re-writing if necessary.

On a happier note, I hope that all of your Christmas breaks were great and you all got at least one thing you wanted! Happy belated New Year too!

AM


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